The Dalton Girl
by starshipranger99
Summary: Recylia Lester finally made it back to Dalton Academy after a long and hard year at McKinley. She's in good spirits until mysterious notes start showing up. Could Reese's past be coming back to haunt her after 5 years of separation? OC/Hunter OC/Jeff
1. The NEW Prologue

**A/N: So I finally got around to making a new prologue! *slow clap for myself* I'm also in the process of rewriting all of the early chapters, because, let's face it, they suck. Pusheen and I both hate them, and they suck. And I just decided that I love you guys so much that I would do some work on them and a new prologue so I guess Christmas came a little bit late for you veteran viewers, sorry.**

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Name: _Recylia Rose Lester_

Home Country: _England_

Height: _5'1_

Story: _Moved to America to live with adoptive parents at 13 in Lima, Ohio. Obtained scholarship to go to Crawford Country Day high school when she was 14 because of outstanding grades in math and English. In the beginning of her freshman year she was transferred to Dalton Academy as a test to see if girls would make a good addition to Dalton Academy. She became apart of a show choir called the Dalton Academy Warblers. In her junior year, she moved to McKinley high school. She is now in her senior year and apart of the New Directions show choir._

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__L looked at the information he had gathered on Recylia. He scrolled down on the library's computer, getting more information such as her address and telephone number. He had never realized that it would be this easy to find information about her, and this much. It would be useful in the future if he needed more information.

He pushed his chair back and stood up after shutting down the computer. Now he needed to go find her house. And eventually her. They had some catching up to do.

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**A/N: Not exactly an informative prologue, but you take what you can get ;) ~Star and Pusheen**


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: Here is the rewritten version of Chapter 1. It's still a bit short, but it follows the original really closely, and I hope you like it. I just thought more people would read the story if the beginning chapters were better written. Pointless Disclaimer: I do not own Glee, or any of the songs mentioned in the future, or any video games mentioned in the future. Enjoy!**

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Recylia looked around the Lima Bean, still no sign of Blaine. They had started the tradition of them meeting every day there after school at four o' clock freshman year, and he was late. Not a big surprise, but it disappointed her nonetheless.

She and Blaine had been friends since freshman year, when she had been transferred to Dalton. She was uncharacteristically shy back then, and nothing like she was now. But Blaine had changed too, just a little bit more drastically.

Ever since Kurt had moved to Dalton, Blaine became more and more distant. He still considered her his best friend, but he just thought his newest plaything was more interesting than she was. Then they moved to McKinley, and it got so much worse. He became friends with the New Directions and started brushing her off more and more. His excuses started to get less believable, but she still continued to go to the Lima Bean every day, at exactly four o' clock. Someone had to uphold tradition, right?

After she spent thirty minutes waiting and doing homework, Blaine showed up. He showed up for the first time in days. Congratulations. "Hey," he said, throwing his messenger bag on the chair next to her and sat down across from her. "I'm sorry I was-"

"Hanging out with your new best buds? Yeah, I know how it is," Reese turned her head to look out the window.

Blaine looked at her apologetically, "I'm sorry, I've just been really busy lately."

"Too busy to talk to your best friend? Or do you even consider me that anymore?" Reese said.

"Of course I do, Reese. You're like a sister to me," Blaine said, putting a hand on her arm. Reese turned her head back to look at him, remaining silent. "I also know what we're doing for Sectionals, if that gives me any points...?"

Reese looked mildly interested, just to keep the conversation going. She was so fortunate that he was even here, she didn't want to run him off now. "I'm interested," she said.

"Gangnam Style and-" Blaine said, but Reese cut him off.

"You're kidding me!" she said. She _hated _that song. It was played all over the radio all the time everywhere she went. "You're not kidding me. That's a load of crap. I mean I know the theme is foreign but seriously! Anything else would've worked and you chose _that?_"

"If you don't like it, take it up with Mr. Schu. I can't do anything about it," Blaine said. They were doing that song, and they were up against the Warblers. They were dead. There was no way they could win with that song.

"But you're the lead soloist! You must have a say in what song we're doing," Reese reasoned.

"Tina's doing it," Blaine said. Dear God, they were not going to die, they were going to get annihilated.

Blaine's phone rang, Blaine looked at her apologetically and answered it. "Yeah?" Pause. "They did what!?" Pause. "Okay, I'll be there in a minute." He hung up. "I have to go. There's a _big _emergency." Blaine gathered up his things.

"Wait, what happened?" Reese asked, alarmed, but he was halfway out the door.

Well, she'd just have to wait another month to see Blaine again.

* * *

On her drive home, she started thinking about the Warblers. She used to be one, because of Blaine. She missed the guys though, and she hadn't seen them since school started back a few weeks ago.

_I guess it's about time I paid them a visit, then, _Reese thought and made a U-turn.

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**A/N: Better? I sure think so. Considering the original was written in, like, last year in November. Compare the original to my latest chapter and you probably wouldn't think it was the same person O.o. Hope you liked it! Byeee ~Star and Pusheen**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hello! Still providing short chapters (sorry about that by the way, no amount of editing can fix that, I'm afraid) but I really hope these are better than the originals... I think they are, but it might just be me. Enjoy!**

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Reese could not contain her excitement. She was standing outside a random classroom at Dalton, listening to Jeff yell at the freshmen. "It's right over left, Jason. _Right _over _left_. Baby girls do things that are harder than this in ballet class and you can't even put your right foot over your left. You know what happens if you mess up at Sectionals, don't you? We lose. And if we lose, then that means the New Directions beat us. And we can't let that happen okay?" Jeff got really intense during practice. Like a drill sergeant, but worse.

Reese opened the door and walked in, still not quite wanting to make her presence known to them. She leaned against the closed door and watched over practice for awhile. Jeff's back was to her, but she knew he had his "serious Warbler" on. It was the one that practically screamed conceited rich person.

She saw Sebastian near the edge of the cluster of boys, looking bored. He always wore the look that screamed conceit, but now she knew he wasn't as much of a jerk as he seemed. Even if he did throw a slushie at Blaine that contained rock salt. Now she thought Blaine deserved it. Sebastian still looked like a Disney Prince wannabe, but she thought that with as much friendly affection that she could muster.

Everyone else was about the same. Trent still looked like the Pillsbury Doughboy, Nick was still the shortest guy in the Warblers [now he was the shortest member with Reese (5'1) and Blaine (5'8) gone], Thad still had a cleft chin, David was still completely serious, and Wes was still gone.

"Honestly, Jeff, I entrust the safety and well-being of this club to you, and I come back and find the freshmen not knowing their left from their right. Gosh, Jeff, it seems like you need help," Reese said with a grin. Jeff turned around, shocked to see her, and started to say something, but Reese continued before he could. "Well. I guess it's okay, because all of us started out that way."

"Honestly, Reese warn a guy before you show up and crash rehearsal," Jeff said mockingly.

"Then I wouldn't be crashing anything, now would I?" she asked and Jeff grinned at her. "Now, from the top."

"Wait a second," one of the new faces said. "There is no way I'm going to stand here and be instructed by a _girl_." He said "girl" like it was a dirty word. Reese's eyebrows kneaded together in confusion. Sure, when she was at Dalton years ago there had been some suspicion about her being there, and plenty of objections, but everyone ended up liking her. She was just like that. But no one had ever outright said anything about it to her before.

"Let me guess, someone isn't too popular with the ladies, am I right?" Reese asked, earning herself a few snickers from a few of the guys around him. "Now, from the top, boys."

They all wordlessly fell into step. Anyone that was friends with Reese knew that if anyone could teach the freshmen, it was Recylia Lester.

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**A/N: So how was it? There's a contest up right now for every 15th review that reviewer gets any kind of fluff they want with any pairing. But there's not any pairings yet is there? Well, okay so_when _there are pairings keep that in mind... ~Star and Pusheen**


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hallo! Changes, changes, and more changes. Vets of the story, please don't hate me, I tried to follow as closely as I could...**

* * *

****"Okay, guys, we're done for the day. I think Jeff can take it from here, now that you know the basics," Reese said to the guys and the freshmen. They all were doing loads better, and it was all thanks to her. Not that she was proud of herself or anything.

Everyone gradually left, all except for the seniors. Sebastian made his way over to her, "Nice dramatic entrance. I'm almost envious."

"Oh, Sebastian. I think someone put enormous amounts of sass where your soul should be," Reese said.

"I missed you too, Reese," Sebastian said sarcastically and gave her a brisk hug. "But don't you think you're little McKinley friends will be upset if they found out you were helping us?"

Reese scoffed, "I could honestly care less what they think."

"So someone's not happy there, hmm? You do know you could always come back. Once a Warbler, always a Warbler, remember?" Sebastian asked.

"Yeah, how could I forget?" Reese said. They had practically drilled it into her and Blaine's heads for months until they finally gave up. The difference now was that she was considering it.

"Hey, Reese! Want to come back to the dorm to play Left 4 Dead 2?" Jeff called from across the room. He was talking with Wes and David, but looked like he wanted to catch her before she left.

"As long as I'm Ellis!" She called back. He was only her favorite character.

* * *

Reese was sitting on the couch in her old dorm with Jeff. Sebastian didn't play much, and he had gone off somewhere in the dorm. Jeff was ripping through zombies with a chainsaw, and Reese was sniping them with a machine gun. All was well in the land of L4D2.

"So how are things at McKinley?" Jeff asked, sending a zombie off the roof of a building.

"Don't want to even waste my valuable breath on the topic," Reese grinned as she killed a Boomer, "I bet things are more eventful here."

"Yeah, considering nothing ever happens here. They allowed girls to enroll, but none have yet other than a few that are scheduled to come later in the year. But that's way off. I guess none of them wanted to come now because their brave leader moved away. What girl would want to be alone at an all-guy school anyway," Jeff asked. Reese shot him a look. "Oops."

"It's fine, Jeff, we all know how you are, no filter," Reese said, earning a glare from him. "Now we're even."

"I'm just shocked-" Jeff started, but Reese getting thrown off the top of a bridge by a Tank.

"THAT'S CHEATING. YOU CAN'T DO THAT TO ME. I DON'T DIE IN THIS GAME. I AM A GOD WHEN IT COMES TO PLAYING THIS GAME. THAT'S JUST RUDE. YOU DON'T THROW GODS OFF OF BRIDGES." Reese raged, throwing her controller at the TV, but her throw went wide and ended up in an armchair instead.

Sebastian came in a second later, "Shut up, Reese. Someone is asleep downstairs. You'll wake him up."

Reese gave him a _I know what's going on _look and said, "Sebastian's been a bad boy, Jeff."

"Oh would you just shut up already, Reese. He's the new captain of the Warblers and he's sick, so leave me alone," Sebastian said, irritated.

"Oh, Reese, I just realized how much I've missed you. I would never have thought to make a comment like that," Jeff said, smiling from the couch. Reese bowed dramatically.

"And what's this new captain's name?" Reese asked. As if on cue, a door shut from downstairs and there were footsteps on the stairs. A tall dirty-blonde boy emerged from the spiral staircase, looking extremely groggy.

"Well if it isn't our own Sleeping Beauty?" Jeff asked, looking over his shoulder at the boy. He rolled his eyes in response, and then they rested on her.

"Jeff, you sure do move on fast. Tiffany broke up with you yesterday and you already have a new girlfriend," he said, looking her over, "At least this one's pretty." Reese's ears warmed up a little bit.

"I take offense to that," Jeff said. "But really, good job at being sick and still managing to be a pain in the butt. Hunter, this is Recylia Lester. Reese, this is Hunter."

Hunter's face lit up with recognition, "So you're the famous Dalton Girl."

"So that's what their calling me now?" Reese said. "Well I guess it's better than 'that girl over there.' It was like I was a tapestry or something."

Hunter held his hand out for her to shake, "I'm Hunter." Before Reese could shake his hand, however, he pulled it back as his face contorted with pain.

"Headache?" Reese asked. Hunter nodded and she went to get her bag off the coffee table. She fished out a small bottle of Tylenol and handed it to him. "Take two of these every four hours."

"You don't have to-" Hunter said.

"I know, I want to," Reese remembered taking care of all the guys when they were sick. Some of them-Sebastian-were difficult to deal with when they were sick, but they were her family, and newbies were as well. Especially the attractive ones like Hunter.

"Yeah, Reese is like a mom away from your mom. So be warned," Jeff said, retrieving the thrown controller and handed it to her. "Now are we going to play or not?"

"Yeah, just never call me your mom again. If you were my child you wouldn't be as weird," Reese said.

Jeff looked offended, "I prefer the term unique."

"I prefer the term bull crap," Reese said, seeing the small smile spread across Hunter's face. She watched him out of the corner of her eye, noticing the way his foot tapped when he played and his thumb twitch over the toggles when he wasn't using them. She also saw him looking out the corner of his eye at her, doing the exact same thing. Reese put her attention back on the game.

After about an hour of brutal zombie murder, Nick popped his head in, "Emergency Warbler meeting in five. Hey, Reese." And with that he was gone.

"And that's my cue to leave," Reese said, gathering her things after Jeff paused the game. She was halfway out the door before Hunter called after her.

"Hey, Recylia. Do you want to go get coffee sometime after school?" Hunter asked.

"Yeah, that'd be great. Bye guys," she was about to close the door before she corrected him, "Call me Reese."

She shut the door before she got a reply.

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**A/N: How were the changes? I think they're so much better, but that's just me. I own nothing, just the plot. I think I'm going to do the next chapter, and then the changes will be done. ~Star and Pusheen**


	5. Chapter 4

**Ok so, I might have lied earlier. I'M UPDATING! We've actually had chapter 5 done for awhile and we've just wanted to get caught up... And then we decided spontaneously that we'd go ahead and update. Oh and you might have noticed that the epilogue is gone. The more Pusheen and I see it, the more it irritates us. So... IT'S GONE (this weird stage I'm going through is called RACS, Random All-Caps Syndrome) Anyway, for new, and possibly confused readers I might explain it at the beginning in a short synopsis. **

"Wake up, you good-for-nothing bum!" Jeff yelled into Hunter's room. He knew that Hunter was already up, he just wanted an excuse to yell. It was a bonus if the person he was yelling at was still asleep. Hunter walked out of his room to find Jeff in the kitchen trying to work the oven.

"Ugh, sometimes I wish my parents were here," Jeff muttered to himself. Hunter chuckled to himself while getting a cereal bowl from the cupboard. He fixed his bowl of cereal and he sat down lazily in his black sweat pants and a faded gray tank top.

"Is Sebastian up yet?" Hunter asked. Jeff thought for a second and grinned in response and ran over to Sebastian's door. Right as Jeff was about to yell, Sebastian opened his door.

"What are you doing?" Sebastian asked, and then smirked when he realized that he had ruined Jeff's fun. They both got their breakfasts and joined Hunter near the fireplace.

Sebastian and Jeff had a conversation, but Hunter didn't join in, his mind was somewhere else. He was thinking of millions of things. He was thinking of the Warbler's upcoming performance at Sectionals, what songs the other groups were going to preform, and he was still trying to figure out Dalton and where everything was. Oddly enough, his mind was focused on Recylia amidst all of the other things.

The guys at Dalton that knew Recylia had told him about her. They said that she had gone to the sister school, but she transferred to Dalton a week later. Hunter had gotten the impression that she was some stuck-up snob, and he couldn't stand girls like that. Since Hunter came to Dalton from a military academy, all the girls that he met were just like that. He only knew a couple that were somewhat not conceited. To say the least, Hunter hadn't had a lot of girlfriends. He knew that girls found him attractive, but he wasn't a player. In fact, he was far from it.

He was actually pretty picky when it came to girls. He just wanted someone who was down to earth. It was just a bonus if they had a pretty face. His mind snapped back immediately to Recylia. She seemed like the exact opposite of what he imagined.

Before he could think anymore about her, however, he overheard his name in Jeff and Sebastian's conversation.

"Well it looks like Hunter's run off with Reese to La La Land," Sebastian smirked.

Color spread across Hunter's cheeks, "No, actually I was thinking about Sectionals."

"And how we're going to face Reese," Jeff badgered him.

"Again, you're wrong," Hunter said. He wasn't lying even though he was thinking about Reese! He just wasn't thinking about how he had to face her at Sectionals. "Besides, I thought you said she's more of an overprotective sister or mother or whatever. That'd be creepy."

Jeff laughed, "You're right, it would be creepy if it were me or Sebastian, in all his glory, but you don't know her as well as we do. You just met her yesterday."

"Guys! I don't like her okay?" Hunter was frustrated. She seemed more like a girl he could only be friends with.

"Okay," Jeff said, but eyed him suspiciously.

"Sebastian?" Hunter asked expectantly.

"Well, now that that's cleared up we better get ready to head to class," Hunter grabbed what was left of his orange and went back to his room.

What he didn't know was that when left, Sebastian and Jeff pulled their crossed fingers from behind their backs.

* * *

Hunter sat at the table in the Lima Bean, waiting on Recylia. He was always early, and he was told Reese was always on time, even if it was the last possible second.

Hunter drank his coffee black. No cream, no sugar, that was for wusses, and definitely no Splenda. Jeff was texting him and profiling some chick he saw in passing on the street. Hunter sighed. Jeff would always notice a pretty girl, no matter their personality.

Reese came in exactly one second before his watch changed to exactly 4:01. _On time, but at the last minute, _Hunter thought.

"Hey," she smiled at him. It was starting to get colder, but even then she was wearing a pair of worn out shorts, a vintage band t-shirt, and an extremely beat-up pair of Converse. Her black curly hair was in a ponytail.

"Hi," he said.

"I'm going to go get some coffee, I'll be right back," she laid her stuff down in the seat next to her and retreated for coffee. Hunter looked down at his phone only to see that Jeff had sent a picture of the girl. Her shoulder length hair was dyed blue and she was wearing a pair of tall combat boots with the Crawford Country Day uniform. He could see what Jeff saw in her, she was pretty, but he wasn't attracted to her at all. He quickly texted back that she was probably going to get a restraining order, and looked attentively at Recylia when she returned.

"What's that about?" she pointed to his phone. "I'm pretending it's my business."

"Jeff sent me a picture of a girl he saw on the street saying she's hot," Hunter rolled his eyes.

"That sounds like our Jeff," Recylia laughed. "One time a girl slapped him for taking a picture of her on the street and he was mortified. And devastated that his ninja skills were thwarted. Of course, Sebastian and I were nearly rolling around on the sidewalk laughing."

"Now _that _sounds like our Jeff. He's usually just about that subtle," Hunter smirked.

Recylia took a sip of her coffee, "So I take it you aren't nerrvous about facing McKinley this year," it wasn't a question, it was a statement and Hunter was a little taken aback. Was she downgrading her own school?

"Should I be?" he asked.

"They're doing Gangnam Style, what do you think?" she blushed a little, "But you didn't hear it from me."

"You're selling out your entire team?" Hunterr was most definitely astonished now.

"They're hardly my team. The only person that pretends I actually exist is Blaine, and that's only half of the time. I was friends with most of last years seniors, but they're obviously gone now," she fiddled with the fraying hem of her shorts.

"Well, you are always welcome back with the Warblers. you shouln't have to feel miserable on your senior year," he said.

"I'm not entirely miserable. I'm friends with the guidance counselor and the guy that leads the New Directions, but they're both about to leave... Besides, Blaine isn't bad all the time," she looked him in the eye.

Hunter was confused at what he saw in her eyes. She seemed to be trying to communicate that she had worse before. He gave her a questioning look, but he didn't question her further.

"Anyway, how is training the freshmen?" Recylia changed the topic well, in his opinion. He just went with it.

"It's going surprisingly well. You helped them a lot. I think that we'll have our song down well before Sectionals," he told her. Her expression was closed off.

"I don't know about us. Tina is the only Asian we have, and she's not even doing Psy's part. What song are you guys doing?"

"Whistle by Flo Rida and Live While We're Young by One Direction," when it came out of Hunter's mouth, he was unsure if he should've told her. But then he thought about how miserable Recylia was at McKinley and immediately trusted her.

She started laughing, "Really?"

"Yeah," Recylia laughing made Hunter laugh, too. Her laugh contagious.

"It's taking so long, though, to get the guys to learn the dance," she had stopped laughing and looked completely serious again. "And Artie just has to roll around and pop wheelies every once and awhile."

Hunter looked confused, he was sure, because Recylia felt the need to elaborate, "He's in a wheel chair."

"Oh, well then why is he in show choir?"

"He has a good a voice," she told him.

"But he can't dance," Hunter concluded.

"Exactly," she said.

Hunter's phone buzzed. He checked it and found that Jeff and Sebastian were going to play a Left For Dead 2 campaign. They asked if he wanted to play.

"I'm pretending this is my business again, who's texting?" Reese asked.

"Jeff. He and Sebastian are playing a Left For Dead 2 campaign, and they want to know if I want to join," as he told her, her eyes lit up.

"Can we go and play?" She looked anxious to go and kill some zombies.

"Sure. I'll text Jeff back and we can go play," Hunter quickly texted Jeff back. And they headed out towards the parking lot.

"I'll meet you there," she headed toward a _very _beat up VW Bug and threw her bag into the trunk. She also threw herself into the driver's seat, and Hunter couldn't help but watch her. And he thought that she would be a stuck up snob.

_If snobs wore beat up Converse and drove beat up VW Bugs, _he thought.

* * *

As Reese drove toward Dalton, her phone rang incessantly. She finally just gave up and answered it.

"What?" she snapped, not meaning to be that sharp.

"Who were you in the Lima Bean with?" It was quite obvious to Reese that it was Blaine on the phone and he was ticked. Reese smiled.

"Hunter Clarington," she said.

"Who's that?" Blaine asked. She could practically see him wrinkle his nose in confusion.

"A guy from Dalton," she answered.

"I thought I was supposed to meet you there," Blaine whined. He was _whining. _He had no right to whine, in Reese's opinion. He was supposed to meet her there everyday and half the time he never showed up. But when he did, he was always late.

"Blaine, you have no right to complain. I have sat at the Lima Bean for hours waiting on you and you would never show up. Then the next day, you'd tell me that you made other plans. So how does it feel, Blaine?" She turned onto a shortcut she knew because Blaine had tought it to her freshmen year.

"You could have told me!" Blaine sounded defensive, which just irritated her more.

"No, Blaine. _You_ could have told _me_," she hung up her phone and placed it in her bag.

She had made her choice. She was going back to Dalton after Sectionals were over. And she couldn't wait until the week was over that seperated her from going back.


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: Sorry we haven't updated in awhile. It's just been a crap load of writer's block mixed with mid-story ideas bombarding our minds. Once again, we apologize wholeheartedly. I've also been working on the Shadowhunter story that we've previously mentioned, and we've added several new characters (maybe some girls will show up *wink, wink*) that need development. We're saying that Sectionals that year were at McKinley because we're too lazy to look it up, plus we're changing Sectionals and Regionals around to fit the story. Also, there will be no steroid use in the story. Disclaimer: Do not own. No money. Please don't sue. :D**

_Reese's P.O.V._

Reese needed to pee. Badly. Honestly she was glad she needed to because she wouldn't have run into two freshman Warblers. She heard them talking, and slowed her pace so she could hear what was going on. They looked distressed.

"Who's going to replace him?" One asked. Replace who?

"I think Jeff might. But he doesn't know the song. I mean, honestly, you can't expect any of us to know it other than Sebastian. What guy goes around listening to One Direction by his own free will?" the second one replied. The other one snorted. Reese figured that Sebastian, for one reason or another, couldn't sing his solo. She was only half worried.

Reese thought for a second and then grinned. She had an idea.

She had to do was find the room the Warblers were using as a dressing room. She knew that the other group, The Rosedale Mennonites, were performing right now, and the Warblers would be next. So she'd have to hurry.

She finally found them in a Spanish classroom. Just by chance, she had heard a very heated argument between Jeff and Hunter. She popped her head in the door, abruptly stopping the argument.

"Does someone need a lead soloist?" Reese asked. She saw Sebastian sitting behind a desk, wearing that stupid smirk. And Jeff looked relieved, probably not wanting to perform One Direction. She didn't blame him. Hunter had yet to turn around.

"Wouldn't that be betraying your beloved Blaine and McKinley?" The sexist pig was back. Lovely. Reese didn't take the bait.

"Unfortunately, no one but Sebastian knows the song. Unless, a certain British girl does?" Jeff looked hopeful. That confirmed her belief that he didn't want to sing One Direction.

"I can sing it," she said. Being British made her very curious about One Direction, and she went through a phase. Which meant she knew every word to their more popular songs.

Hunter turned around and gave her a once-over. "I don't think it's against the rules, you performing with us that is, as long as it's okay with the McKinley group."

"They'll find out eventually," Reese smirked. "I was planning on transferring back next week." She was then attacked by Trent, who had run over to give her a hug.

"You're coming back!" She reached up and patted him on the head once he let her go. She's missed her sassy friend.

"Relax, Pillsbury Doughboy," she laughed. He knew she was joking, and didn't take her seriously.

"Notice how Trent's the shortest of us, and Reese had to reach to pat him on the head," Jeff commented. Reese gave him a death glare, but didn't violently lash out at him. She didn't want to give the group any fuel to veto her performance.

Jeff smiled sarcastically, "We'll need to go over the dance moves—"

Reese cut him off, "I need to do something, five minutes." She went right back out the door, heading for her car.

She heard Hunter yell, "Hurry!" after her.

_Hunter's P.O.V._

The Warblers were about to go on, and Hunter had no idea where Recylia was. Anytime he asked Jeff where she could possibly be, he just laughed and said, "She'll be here." Which didn't help his anxiety at all. Especially since their first number, _Whistle_, was rapidly approaching.

When the MC finished introducing the Warblers, Hunter walked out onstage by himself, whistling. Once he was center stage, the rest of the guys followed suit until all of them were out there. He glanced over and saw Recylia off stage, in her uniform, trying so hard not to laugh. (A/N: We're going to make this as short as it can possibly be, because we so obviously suck at these scenes.) He mentally rolled his eyes and started singing.

They were about halfway through the song when it happened.

When Hunter reached the line, _Imma lay back don't stop it_, Hunter made the mistake of glancing over at Recylia. She couldn't contain her laughter apparently, and was all but on the floor laughing. Hunter felt his face heat up, but continued on with the song.

_Reese's P.O.V._

When she recovered from her laughing fit, she reminded herself to apologize to Hunter later. She just found his blush so hilarious. It started at his neck, then it gradually creeped up his face. He looked like an attractive tomato.

Once they were done, Reese made herself look as serious as she could. Which wasn't very serious.

She sang the song without incident, but saw a few McKinley students' angry faces in the crowd. When she sang with the Warblers, crappy One Direction or not, she felt like she was home.

When they exited the stage, she did her best to avoid the McKinley students. She suffered a few nasty looks from Blaine and a few questioning ones from everybody else. Knowing Mr. Schu, he'd probably find her in the audience and want to have a little chat. She could honestly care less. She had no desire to perform with the Gangnam Style crew. It was predetermined it was going to be a mess. Predetermined by Reese, at least.

When they had reached their seats, Jeff leaned over Sebastian and whispered, "Aren't you glad you didn't have anything to with that train wreck?"

Reese laughed.

In the next moment, Marley had passed out. Reese immediately thought back to how Kitty had sabotaged her, and got out of her seat to go to the McKinley dressing room. Once Reese was out of the auditorium, she starting running. The girls' dressing room was located in the choir room, and quickly ran into the very people she was trying to avoid earlier. She grabbed a hold of Tina's wrist and held her back.

"What do you want, traitor?" Tina asked.

"Tina, I just want to know how Marley is. I know what Kitty did, and I want to help," Reese said. She meant it to. Marley was one of the few people she liked at McKinley, and was genuinely worried about her.

Tina looked annoyed. "She's fine, but she ruined my first solo," she said.

Typical Tina. Reese rolled her eyes and went to speak to Mr. Schu.

"I don't need to deal with you right now, Recylia," Mr. Schu said, not looking at her.

"I can stay here with Marley and make sure she's alright so you guys can go perform. It'll give you a chance of winning. It's the least I can do," she said. Marley looked extremely pale from Reese's vantage point. Which probably wasn't very good, considering her height. They had Marley laid out on a few of the chairs with a cloth to her head, not wanting to wake her up.

Mr. Schu looked at her dubiously, but then quickly got everyone's attention, "We're going to go out and perform again. Recylia will stay back and take care of Marley. If we want to win, we have to go out and re-do our entire performance, I'm sure the judges will allow this."

Blaine objected, "I'm staying back. I need to speak with Reese. We have enough members to perform without me. We all know I'm not good at Gangnam Style." Everyone nodded at that.

"Fine. Let's go!" Mr. Schu herded everyone back to the auditorium. Shortly after they all left, Puck walked in on the awkward situation. _Great_, Reese immediately thought.

"I can't believe you did that, Reese," Puck said as soon as he walked in the door.

Reese let out a breath. "I did it because I wanted to. I'm switching schools anyways so it hardly matters. I never got any respect here, I barely had any friends, and Blaine hardly ever makes time for me. So why would I even want to stay?"

"I most certainly do make time for you!" Blaine was indignant.

Reese just flipped the cool cloth over. "We've already had this conversation, Blaine. Stop lying to yourself," she replied coolly.

"Look Reese, you could've waited until Sectionals was over to—"

"There you are, Recylia," Hunter walked in, looked around, and started to walk back out, "Oh. Well, I'll just be going then."

"No, why don't you stay? You're obviously the reason she performed with you guys," Puck interrupted.

Reese butted in, "I _wanted _to perform with them! It wasn't any reason other than that!"

Puck ignored her. "I don't know how you got her to perform with you guys, but if you even laid a hand on my girlfriend—" Reese jumped out of her seat and stood in Puck's line of sight.

"I am not your girlfriend. I might've been your girlfriend, but that was the past. As in last summer," she said. "Next time get your facts straight."

Puck opened his mouth, but before he could speak Blaine decided to be the attention hog that he had turned into since coming to McKinley, "Why would you do this to me, Reese? We're best friends. You should've told me."

"She's been trying to tell you!" Hunter said, apparently frustrated by Blaine's lack of competence. Also brought on by McKinley. "Honestly, I don't know why all of the guys talk about you like you're a legend at school. You just seem like a whiny baby to me."

_Score one for Hunter_, Reese thought. Now she would definitely have to apologize to him about earlier.

Blaine did what he did best, pouted. Puck looked like he had something else to say, but held it back. Reese sat back down next to Marley, who looked like she was about to wake up.

"Anyway, the guys are looking for you. All of us need to be on stage when we accept that trophy," Hunter grinned. Reese had to admit, with his jacket thrown over his shoulder and that grin on his face, he was very good looking.

Blaine was out of his funk. "What makes you so sure you're going to win? We're going to mop the floor with you guys," he said. Reese rolled her eyes, wishing he was less of a diva.

"Reese?" Marley looked confused, but less sick when she woke up. Thank goodness.

"Sit tight. I'm going to go get you something from a vending machine for you to eat. I'll be right back," she said and got up. She looked at Hunter, "Stay here. I'll be ready in a minute."

She got the granola bar in record time and managed to get Marley to eat it. She kept on protesting about the calories, but Reese insisted that it was low-fat. Which was a big lie.

Reese told Blaine and Puck to stay and make sure Marley didn't pass out again.

She and Hunter walked back stage and were greeted by the rest of the Warblers. The other group was behind them and the New Directions were on the other side of the stage. They looked very proud of themselves.

Reese tapped Jeff on the shoulder, and he bent down so she could whisper in his ear, "Was the second time better?"

"Nope, but they sure do look smug don't they?" Jeff asked. Reese nodded.

The groups were called out to the stage one by one. The awarding had begun.

"In third place we have—" _The Rosedale Mennonites_, Reese thought. "—The Rosedale Mennonites!" The over-cheery announcer said. Reese looked over at the group, they looked happy enough.

"Now, for what you've all been waiting for. In first place we have," Opening the envelope gave time for the dramatic pause that was going to inevitably show up somewhere that evening. "I believe, ladies and gentlemen, that we have a tie between the New Directions and the Warblers! We'll be seeing you at Regionals!" Hunter and Mr. Schu were beckoned to come up and accept their trophy together. Reese looked at Jeff pointedly. He just shrugged in return.

Once all of the show choirs left the stage, Reese left with Jeff. Last year, when the New Directions and the Warblers tied, a fight ensued between the two groups afterwards. Now, when Reese switched loyalties it was almost a given that would happen.

Once they left the building, Jeff put his arm around her shoulders and said, "Welcome back."

**A/N: I'm not sure I'm exactly happy with it (to be a little more specific I think it's crap). But it'll have to do. Pusheen and I were putting off this chapter for as long as we could and the next chapter is when the plot is really going to start. Eventually, you'll start learning a little bit more about Reese and her past. I'm just happy it's longer this time! Thanks and please let me know with a review if you think it sucked or not.**

** So I was reading through the story and noticed that around chapter 2 we said Reese was 5'6. However, she is only 5'1. Sorry about that as well. I'm just glad I noticed it now so I wouldn't take grief for it later.**


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: IT'S THE LONG AWAITED, NEXT DAY UPDATE! I guess I'm just trying to make up for the previous lack of updating... So I guess boredom is a good thing when it comes to my writing. ANYWAY, this one isn't as crappy as the last one. Once again, I apologize. Also, Hunter is OOC, from what we have seen from him on the show. Now read, minion.**

Reese had borrowed her stepfather's truck so she could move all of her stuff back into the dorm. She parked outside the main building so she could get her dorm assignment, earning some weird looks from a few of the students milling around. Good thing there wasn't very many. You just don't drive into Dalton with a truck filled with boxes. But Reese did. She opened the doors and walked into Dalton, feeling like she was home. In the main office, the secretary immediately recognized her. They'd been good friends when she was here.

"Reese! I didn't know you were moving back!" the secretary, Jane, came around the desk to give Reese a hug.

"Yeah. I didn't like it very much at McKinley, and I've really missed this place," she looked around once more, soaking everything in.

"It's great to have you back, hon," Janet went back around to her side of the desk and started typing on her computer, "but I suppose you came in here to receive your schedule and dorm appointment, huh?" Reese nodded.

"Well, unfortunately, you're going to be staying with three boys. The girl's dorm hasn't been built yet even though we have a few more girls scheduled to come later this year. Although I'm sure Hunter, Jeff, and Sebastian won't mind," Janet smiled, "I know you're friends with Jeff and Sebastian, and Hunter's a sweetheart, so I'm sure it won't be a problem."

Reese smirked. "Thanks, I'll just take my schedule and a key, then. I don't need a map or anything, I know where everything is," she said. Janet slid everything over the desk and Reese put them in her bag.

"See you later, sweetie!" Janet called. Heck, Reese had even missed the secretary.

She parked the truck outside the dorm building/sorority house. Dalton didn't have one big building for dorms, they had dorm houses. Each one held about 8 people. They were all about 4 floors tall and were like normal houses with appliances and such. She was lucky she could come to Dalton on scholarship, she didn't think she could've come any other way.

The only reason Reese got into Dalton in her freshman year was because the headmaster wanted to see if he could get any more money by accepting girls. But before he started accepting girls he needed to see how one would act around so many guys. Recylia wasn't necessarily the best choice for that, but her Crawford Country Day teachers seemed to think so.

When she got there she and Blaine became really good friends by a chance encounter in a spare classroom. She was really nervous and shy and not the Reese she was now, and Blaine gave her a pep talk and cheered her up. Later he introduced her to the Warblers. Blaine was the first friend she had made at Dalton.

Once he convinced her to join the Warblers she became friends with Jeff, who got her out of her shell. Anyone who was good friends with Jeff became more outgoing and lost any shyness they had previously acquired. They dated for awhile but then later agreed they were better friends rather than dating. Then she started branching out and became friends with Wes, Nick, Thad, Trent, and David. By the end of the year she had a really good group of friends.

Until Blaine moved to McKinley. She decided to move too, no matter how many of the Warblers tried to discourage her. Sometimes she just wished Blaine had never met Kurt.

She was snapped out of her thoughts by her phone, and she looked at the caller ID. Blaine. She tossed the thing in the back seat. She had decided to register back at Dalton that Sunday, two days after Sectionals. There was always a secretary in, so she was pretty much free to move in any day she wanted. She did, however, want to go to class as soon as possible. Her parents called in yesterday to make sure the principal was okay with her moving back. It was a very good thing she sometimes paid him a friendly visit when she was a freshman.

Reese backed the truck out of the spot she was parked in and drove to the dorm she was in just a few days ago. Once she was parked she took her keys out of the ignition and put her dorm key on the chain. She practically skipped up to the door and put the key in the lock. The door opened without protest.

"BOYS! YOU'RE NEW ROOMMATE'S HERE!" Reese yelled down the stairs where the boys slept. She didn't hear anyone upstairs, and the top floor was empty. The main floor was the kitchen and the living room that went untouched. Downstairs were the guys' room and their bathroom. The third floor was the game/study room. That one had a couch and a TV (also where the Xbox was located), plus a few desks. The fourth floor was supposed to be another bedroom floor but was empty because they didn't have enough people to fill it. That was going to be Reese's floor.

After a few minutes of silence, Reese figured that they weren't there. She sighed after she guessed she had to move everything on her own. She put her bag on a table next to the door, then went out to grab a box.

Once she had finally gotten the thing up the spiral staircase, she found out that the fourth floor wasn't empty, like she thought it was. It had furniture in it, and it looked like it was ready to live in, other than the lack of personal items. Reese would have to call her step parents later and tell them that they didn't have to bring her furniture from the house. She laid the box down on the dresser and went to go get another one. She ran into Thad waiting at her truck.

"Reese?" he asked. He looked shocked to see her there. "I saw a truck out here with boxes and I got curious. Glad to see you're back."

"Thanks. Would you care to help me? My roommates apparently don't know the meaning hospitality," she asked.

"That's what I came to ask. Jeff, Hunter, and Sebastian are actually having an emergency Warbler meeting. Apparently they wanted to have a chat with the freshmen. A few of them messed up at Sectionals and Jeff's ticked. Hunter, however, just called the meeting so Jeff would quit badgering him about it. You know how Jeff is," Thad said. Reese nodded, holding back a smile. She knew exactly how he was.

"You did a really good job at Sectionals, by the way," he said, picking up a box from the back of the truck.

"Thanks," Reese replied picking up a box of her own. "I was kind of concerned though. After I left, I heard that a few of the New Directions went to go speak to the judges."

"It turned out fine. They said that as long as you didn't perform with the New Directions too then it didn't violate any rules," Thad led the way into the dorm and Reese gestured that her room was upstairs. "How come they let you room with three guys?"

"They didn't have any other place for me. The dorms they're letting a few girls use aren't done yet. But rumor has it that a few girls are coming later in the year, "Reese winked at him.

"I know one of them, Aya something. Real pretty, but not my type. You'd be good friends with her, though," he said. He laid the box next to the one she had brought in earlier on her dresser.

"We'll have to see about that," she said, and they went to go get more boxes.

Hunter's P.O.V.

Something was up. The door was open and there was a bag sitting on the side table. Hunter looked around and didn't see any other unfamiliar items. Jeff looked like he wanted to look through the bag, but managed to refrain. Hunter started towards the stairs, curious to see who was making to noise. Jeff followed suit, and Sebastian, who looked uninterested, plopped down on the couch.

Hunter heard another thump, and then some swearing. In a British accent.

Jeff laughed and then yelled, "Recylia Rose Lester! Language!"

"Not my fault! Thad put the box on the edge of the dresser!" Hunter climbed the rest of the steps to find Reese standing in a pile of converse. She had boxes everywhere.

Jeff stepped around Hunter and opened a box entitled "Manga". "I see you haven't stopped reading this," he held up a volume of manga.

Reese snatched it out of his hand, "No, no I haven't."

"So Thad was here?" Hunter asked. He had a weird feeling in his chest that he couldn't pinpoint.

"Yeah. All I have to now is unpack and take my stepdad's truck back," Reese started picking up the pile of converse that had formed around her. Hunter didn't know Reese had a stepparents. He made a mental note to ask Jeff later.

"I can take it back for you," Jeff volunteered.

Reese looked at him skeptically. "I swear if you wreck it or my car when you bring it back I will slap you all the way to England," she said. Jeff did a mock salute and went back downstairs. She heard the truck as it drove away.

"Do you want any more help?" Hunter asked. He was leaning in the doorway, hands in his pockets, looking at Reese.

"Sure, just take those two boxes of converse and put them in the closet organizer," she said. Hunter looked at her in shock. "What? I respect my converse, therefore they need to be neatly organized in my closet."

Hunter shook his head at her, but started putting the converse back in the box so he could take it over to her closet."So have you heard the rumors about the other girls coming?" Hunter asked.

"Yeah, Thad told me," Reese said as she started unpacking the manga. "He said something about one named Aya that he knew. Also said he didn't know anything about the rest."

"Aya and Kylie," Hunter said. Reese gave him a look, "Sebastian's mom took a job for the school he knows all about them. Complains all the time, too. Something about 'taking the guy supply down'."

Reese laughed. "That's almost impossible considering this is an all-guy school," she frowned. "Well, it's almost an all-guy school."

"I also heard about a transfer student named Gabby. Sebastian said that she's from Romania and is coming here for her senior year," Hunter said.

"If she's from Romania wouldn't that, like, make her a vampire or something?" Reese asked.

Hunter laughed and Reese threw a volume of manga at the back of his head. He picked the copy back up and threw it back at her. She caught it inches from her face and put it on her bookshelf. "How did you do that?" Hunter asked.

"Do what?" Reese asked.

"Catch that book while it was inches from your face?"

"Easy. Fight Club. Don't tell me no one continued it?" Reese asked.

"No. This is the first I've heard of it," Hunter looked confused.

"Well, freshman year, Blaine, Jeff, and I started Dalton Academy Fight Club. With the help of some seniors of course. We all sucked when we started, but our reflexes and fighting skills got better. Wait a second. I'm not supposed to be talking about this. Never mind," Reese looked a bit put out with herself for mentioning it in the first place.

"Let me guess, first rule of fight club: never talk about fight club?" Hunter asked, a smile on his face.

"Exactly. It wasn't necessarily legalized by the school, there's this warehouse—crap! I need to shut up," she resumed putting the countless volumes of manga on the shelves.

They continued unpacking Reese's things in a comfortable silence, until Jeff returned. Reese had moved on to unpacking her street clothes and Hunter was putting sheets on the bed. "Looks like you got Hunter to work!" Jeff sauntered in and opened a box. He whistled and pulled out Reese's old cheerleading uniform. "You never told me you were a cheerleader!" Jeff looked hurt.

"I wasn't a cheerleader. I was an assistant to the coach. Relax," she snatched it out of his hands and eyed it as if she wanted to burn it. "I knew I should've unpacked that box before you got back."

Jeff reached down into the box and pulled out one of her bras. "You put your cheerleading uniforms with your… undergarments?" Jeff asked.

"Well, I'm glad you're deciding to be proper about it. Give it," Reese said. Jeff held it _way _over her head and Reese put her hands on her hips. "Do you _want _to die?"

"No. But I do want black mail. See you tomorrow!" and with that, Jeff left, slamming the door behind him.

Reese went right back to unpacking her clothes. Hunter knew he was blushing furiously, and cursed whatever caused him to blush like that. "Aren't you going to try and get it back?" he asked.

"Later," she looked at him for a minute. "Why do you blush like that? I can't help but find it hilarious."

"I don't know," Hunter looked embarrassed and turned back to his work.

"You do realize that now that I know that I will make it my life's goal to embarrass you as much as I can?" Reese asked.

Hunter's face got a shade darker.

Reese's P.O.V.

Later that night, after eating takeout, Reese was looking through a volume of manga and a piece of paper fluttered out. She picked it up and looked at it suspiciously. She unfolded it and read the contents:

_Reese, _

_Excellent job at Sectionals. Glad to see that you're finally happy. For now._

_-L_

Reese looked at the note and scrunched her eyebrows together. L? She didn't know anyone whose name started with an L.

**A/N: Before anyone has a fit about Thad still being there, let me speak. He is necessary (sort of) to the story line. I know he was on the Council of Upperclassmen in the second season, but we needed to include him for the purpose of having more named Warblers. However, Wes the Gavel-Wielding Warbler has graduated (didn't want to get comments about it...). Until next time...**


	8. Chapter 7

**(A/N: So I really feel bad about not uploading. So I wrote another chapter. Sorry you guys had to wait for so long! I'm also really curious to see who y'all think L is. So like put it in a review or inbox me. I also really want some more reviews, especially since I've posted like three chapters in the past two days... Once again, thanks for putting up with my rants.)**

Hunter's P.O.V.

Warbler practice had just ended and Hunter and Jeff were the last ones to leave. Hunter still hadn't asked about Recylia's parents, and since she wasn't within earshot he decided that this was the best time.

"Hey Jeff," Hunter tapped his friend on the shoulder. Jeff was frowning at the set list for Regionals. It still wasn't complete; and Hunter, being the leader, should've been doing it, but his mind was elsewhere.

"I'm kind of busy, what?" Jeff looked up from his work and looked over his shoulder at Hunter.

"Reese said something the other day about her stepparents and I couldn't help but wonder about her actual parents and how she got to Ohio," Hunter said.

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" Jeff's tone changed and his shoulders tensed up.

"I didn't want to offend her or anything, especially if it was a sore subject. Plus, I kind of figured you would know," Hunter didn't expect this behavior from Jeff. It was strange that his demeanor had changed so suddenly.

"Her parents are dead," Jeff's voice was rough, but then his shoulders relaxed and he continued writing.

Hunter was shocked. Recylia was always so… happy. He never expected that.

"But how is she so—"

"Reese?" Jeff supplied when Hunter struggled for words. Hunter nodded and Jeff continued, "Time."

"Well five years doesn't seem like nearly long enough for Reese to be like she is now," Hunter said. Her parents died, not her puppy.

Jeff laughed. "She'll do anything," he said, continuing to study the set list. Hunter really didn't think that glaring at it would help finish it, but you never really knew with Jeff. He also wanted to learn how he could change the subject so easily.

"Who'll do anything?" A familiar British accent asked from the doorway.

Hunter was planning on avoiding the question but Jeff turned around in his chair and said, "You."

"Really now? Well, I guess I'll have to confirm that for Hunter, now won't I? I guess coming back to get my bag was a bad idea," Reese said looking around. She spotted it on a couch and walked over to it. "What are you two doing in here anyway?"

"Set list. Hunter however is badgering me about—" Hunter kicked Jeff's foot "—dinner." Now Hunter didn't have to worry about killing Jeff later.

"Well, just don't do anything like Whistle again and you'll be good to go," she looked amused.

"I'm offended because that was my idea," Jeff said.

Recylia came over and ruffled his hair, "Of course it was."

Jeff grinned, "Are you ready for the proof that Reese will do anything, Hunter?"

"You were serious?" Hunter was alarmed. He had no idea what this involved.

"Of course," Recylia winked. The over-exaggeratedness (A/N: I realize that that is not a word. I couldn't think of any other way to describe it.) of it just made it extremely creepy.

Jeff plugged up his phone to the rarely-used stereo in a corner of the room. _Shake It_, by Metro Station started playing. Hunter knew exactly what Jeff meant by anything. Jeff and Recylia started dancing and singing along with the song. But instead of normal dancing they were doing something Hunter could only describe as dirty dancing. Hunter wanted out.

Three minutes later, the song ended, much to Hunter's relief. Although for Jeff it wasn't over. He and Recylia were standing really close together and Jeff kissed Recylia. She just stood there for a moment, confused, but then she pushed him away. Hunter felt like he needed to leave, but he felt rooted to the spot.

"What was that for?" she demanded.

"I've missed you, Reese. I want us to get back together—" Jeff looked—was that vulnerability on Jeff's face? If it was then Hunter applauded Reese.

"No. That ended freshmen year. You know when we both agreed that we were better as friends?" As Reese said this, Jeff blushed. Once again, Hunter felt Recylia needed to be congratulated because this was quite a feat. Recylia was apparently multi-talented.

"Yeah," Jeff mumbled. "Sorry."

"Thought so," Reese picked her bag up off the ground and stopped at where Hunter was awkwardly standing at the door. "Oh, hey Hunter," and with that she walked out.

Jeff still looked extremely embarrassed and Hunter couldn't help the huge grin that spread across his face. "I think, that this needs to be documented in history books because ladies and gentlemen, Jeffery Sterling got rejected!" Hunter gestured grandly to the miserable Jeff standing in the middle of the room.

"You're a great friend, you know?" Jeff said sarcastically. Hunter nodded and continued to pester Jeff until he finally said, "I swear if you tell _anyone _I will have your head on a wooden pike so fast you won't even know that I cut it off."

Hunter _tsked_, "Violence is never the answer, young Sterling."

"I'm just warning you now. Even if you tell your eighty-two year old grandmother, you'll be meeting death in a matter of minutes," Jeff threatened.

"I know, I know. But _still _you got rejected. The one guy who can have any girl he wants _finally _got rejected," Hunter picked up his stuff and headed out the door.

"_Anyone!_" Jeff yelled after him. He was met by laughter.

Reese's P.O.V.

She didn't know what to think about earlier, so she decided to head down to the warehouse to hit some stuff. She changed into a pair of sweatpants and threw on a tank top. She threw on a pair of high-tops and went down to the kitchen for a bottle of water.

"Where are you going in such a hurry?" Reese hadn't heard Hunter come in.

"To go work out a bit. Want to come?" she asked. Reese wasn't sure how Hunter felt about her, especially if Jeff was torn up about her turning him down. They seemed like good enough friends.

"So someone is mad at Jeff, huh?" Hunter asked her. Reese wasn't exactly sure what her feelings towards Jeff were at that moment in time, but she did know that she wanted to hit something. Preferably Jeff.

"Look, do you want to come or not?" Reese asked, a little bit annoyed.

"Sure, let me go change," He went downstairs, and was back up in a matter of minutes. Reese subconsciously noted that he looked good in sweatpants. Then she mentally reprimanded herself.

"I'll drive," Reese dug her keys out of her bag—she refused to call it a purse—and walked out the door. Hunter followed suit. Reese unlocked the bug and climbed in. Hunter, however, had only opened his door.

"What are you waiting for?" Reese asked.

"I'm too tall," he said matter-of-factly. Reese rolled her eyes.

"Well, I wouldn't know. I'm five one. Now get in the car," Reese said.

After five minutes of struggling, Hunter finally got in the car, and Reese drove off toward the warehouse.

"You drive like a lunatic!" Hunter, who had been hanging on the armrests for dear life, would not let the fact that she nearly ran them into a ditch go.

"I was trying to avoid hitting a squirrel!" she countered. "Squirrels and I are very close in nature and I refuse to be the cause of one's death."

"Well if you continue to drive like that then you might be the cause of your own," Hunter said. Reese rolled her eyes and pocketed her keys. They had arrived at the abandoned warehouse that formerly housed Fight Club. The place still had boxes everywhere and a really musty smell, but she and the guys had brought in mats and punching bags to give it a fight club feel. Plus they didn't want to bust their heads open on the concrete. Right now, however, the mats had a bunch of former fight club members and hopefully a few new ones. Jeff was standing in front of them.

Reese went over and stood near the edge of the crowd. "As a former member of the Dalton Academy Fight Club, Reese, how would you like to demonstrate?" Jeff asked.

"If it involves being able to hit you I'm perfectly fine with it," she smirked.

"Alright then," Jeff rubbed his hands together as Reese came forward. She was probably a little rusty, but I she was, then Jeff was too so it'd be fine. Sebastian counted it off for them and then it was almost too easy for Reese to pin Jeff to the mat. He was on his back and she was sitting on his stomach.

"Perhaps a rematch?" Reese suggested. Jeff glared at her, and got Sebastian to fight her. Reese knew Sebastian was more of a challenge. He was the only one that was in fight club that had the ability to beat her. After a little bit of sparring, though, Reese discovered that Sebastian's stance was a little weak and Reese took advantage of that. She faked a punch, but then kicked his legs out from under him when he went to block the fake punch. Reese then smiled confidently at the onlookers, "Any other volunteers?"

Everyone shook their heads no. Jeff took that moment to speak, "Now you have a taste of how you'll eventually be able to fight." Reese assumed he was talking to the initiates.

Reese looked around for Hunter and found him near the entrance, mouth slightly hanging open. She winked at him and looked at Jeff. "I believe Hunter would like to join," she said and gestured over to where he was standing. Jeff laughed.

"So no hard feelings about earlier?" he asked.

"None after we spar a bit more. I really feel like hitting you," Reese said.

Hunter left with Jeff, to spare himself the shame of barely being able to fit in the Bug. When Reese got back to the car, there was another note in sitting in her seat. She picked it up and read:

_Reese,_

_So you've improved your fighting skills. Well done. Just remember, I'm always watching._

_-L_

Reese still had no idea who these were from, but she was leaning strongly toward it being a joke. She crumpled it up and threw it in the back seat, not wanting to see it again.

**(A/N: Don't forget to give me your theories on L... and maybe a review?)**


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hello once again! I have yet another chapter for you guys, even if it is kind of short. You get to meet the famous aforementioned newcomers and there's a little bit of fluff :). Hope you enjoy… if you do, how about a review? I mean if you didn't, how about a review? You know, for my efforts in the past 3 days… *wink, wink***

Reese's P.O.V.

Reese awoke to a pillow in the face. "Jeffery Sterling do you want yet _another _reason for me to kill you?" Reese tossed the pillow back at the culprit.

"I think that you've made her mad," a female voice whispered. Reese groaned and put one of her pillows over her own head. _Wait a second… a _female _voice? _Reese sat straight up and was met by two girls sitting on either side of her bed.

"WHO IN CHILLA'S NAME ARE YOU?" Reese yelled. There wasn't supposed to be any other girls at Dalton until the two transfers showed up. Then Reese slapped a hand over her forehead. They _were _the transfer girls.

One was blonde, blue-eyed, and looked extremely Southern. She was wearing a cowgirl hat with her hair in pigtails along with a plaid shirt and shorts. She had sparkles everywhere. The other one had bright, pumpkin orange hair and was wearing black clothes and very imposing combat boots. She looked really familiar, and just a little bit scary.

"I'm Kylie," the one in the hat said. She had a very heavy Southern accent. She was getting sparkles all over Reese's bed. Reese wanted to puke.

"I'm Aya," the one with the pumpkin hair said.

Reese thought for a second about what she could call her new roommates. "You're Gingersnap," she pointed to Aya, then at Kylie, "and you're Pigtails."

Aya narrowed her eyes, "And you're Shortie."

Reese cracked her knuckles but before she could beat Aya into the floor, Sebastian walked through the door. "I see the new girls have arrived," he put on a charming smile, "do you find the dorms to your liking?" Reese couldn't help but wonder who hit Sebastian on the head.

Kylie leaned in to whisper in Aya's ear, "He's cute!" just loud enough for Reese and Aya to hear. Apparently, Sebastian heard it too because his smile changed to a smirk and a wink.

Aya spoke up, "It's a very nice dorm house with very pleasant company." She threw a look at Reese.

"Well then I guess I'll leave you girls to finish packing," one more uncharacteristic, charming smile from Sebastian and he was gone. _What's up his butt today? _Reese thought to herself.

"Oh my gosh! He's sooooo cute! Is he single?" Kylie asked her. Reese decided to play a game with them.

"Yes," Reese said, internally smirking. Kylie was just going to have to find out for herself that he likes boys.

Kylie squealed and went after him. Reese started laughing as soon as she was gone. "What?" Aya asked.

"You'll find out in a minute," Reese said. Aya shrugged and started looking around the room and her eyes stopped at the bookshelf.

"You read manga too?" Aya all of a sudden got excited and relaxed.

"Yeah. Love to. Much to Jeff's dismay," Reese said as Aya was skimming through the bookshelf.

"Are you and he dating or something?" Aya looked over her shoulder at Reese.

"No. We dated freshman year," Reese decided to not tell her about the incident that happened a few days ago. "So how'd you end up here?"

"My parents thought it would be a good opportunity to 'meet new people'. I'm kind of an introvert; Kylie's really my only close friend. My parents sent me here from Maine to live with my Aunt Susan. They immediately enrolled me into Crawford for my freshman year, but when the headmaster here wanted to enroll me at Dalton I jumped at the chance. I don't like a lot of girls at Crawford, they're all so... obnoxious. I only became friends with Kylie because her mom is good friends with my aunt," Aya pulled out a volume and started flipping through it.

"I knew that accent sounded familiar," Reese said.

"Well, it's kind of faded but I do go to see my parents once in a while—" she was interrupted by a beet red Kylie.

"_You didn't tell me he liked boys!" _she screeched, focusing her anger on Reese.

"You didn't ask!" Reese countered. Aya snickered.

"So _that's _what you meant by 'you'll see,'" she put the manga back on the shelf.

"So now that your back, how about you tell me how you got here?" Reese suggested.

Kylie crossed her arms and looked a bit put out, but didn't hesitate to talk about herself, "My mama wanted me to go to an all-girls school when she divorced my daddy, so when she heard about Crawford, we left Alabama and my mom enrolled me at Crawford. She started up a small farm and next thing we knew my momma was making a lot of money breeding horses. We had money anyway, but momma didn't want to rely on daddy's money, so now she sends his checks back to him. My twin brother and I have started our own little business teaching little kids how to ride horses."

So Kylie had a broken home too. That made Reese like her a little bit more, even though just the sight of all of those rhinestones made Reese want to puke rainbows. She decided that she liked her new roommates. Pumpkin hair and sparkles be darned.

That night, though, Reese could not stand her roommates. Aya had a tendency to blast music to help her go to sleep (Reese had no idea how that worked, but she could hear Aya snoring over the loud music so she assumed that it did. For her, at least) and Kylie was up all night talking to her boyfriend back home. Reese had tried yelling, but Aya was sound asleep and Kylie was a stubborn Southerner and wouldn't hang up with her boyfriend. So Reese grabbed a pillow and a blanket and headed for the couch in the floor below them. She put the pillow at the head of the couch and sat down. She heard a yelp out from under her and she jumped up, hitting her toe on the coffee table in the process.

"What are you doing up here?" Reese whispered. Hunter had already beat her to the couch and looked like he would put up a fight to keep it.

"Jeff won't shut up and I have no idea what Sebastian's doing. It's quieter up here. What are you doing down here?" he asked.

"Kylie is on the phone with her boyfriend from Alabama and Aya is blasting music. You would not believe how many times I have told them to stop being annoying and go to sleep," she looked at the ceiling and could practically _feel _the bass drop from Aya's music. Even if a floor separated her from it.

"Well, I guess since you have this couch I can go sleep on the one that is hardly ever sat on downstairs," Reese picked up her pillow and started to leave but Hunter stopped her.

"You're small. Both of us could fit on this one," Hunter blushed when he realized what he said. Reese grinned.

"You know, I would be offended that you called me small, but I think I can look past it considering that you blushed. But I swear if you try anything, I will kill you," she said it even though she knew he wouldn't. Someone who blushed that much any time Jeff opened his mouth definitely wouldn't. Reese put her pillow over Hunter's feet and layed down, pulling her blanket over her. "Night," she said, half asleep already. It was never really hard for Reese to fall asleep unless she was disturbed by something.

"Night, Reese," Hunter replied, but Reese was already asleep.

Reese woke up later that night with Hunter's feet in her face. She kicked him off the couch and he woke up the minute he hit the floor, "What?"

"Your feet were in my face," Reese said. Hunter, only mildly perturbed layed back down on the couch the same way he was before. Reese decided that it was payback time. She had to scoot down a little bit, but she managed to get her feet in his face. "See, how do you like it?"

"Your feet smell like roses," he said sleepily.

"Well it is my middle name," she said, but she never got a reply. Hunter had gone back to sleep with his feet in Reese's face yet again. She sighed and put her pillow on top of his feet, knowing he wouldn't be happy if she woke him up again.

**A/N: No note this time guys, sorry. But you finally got to meet two of the new arrivals! The third one should arrive in the next chapter if everything goes as planned. I do realize that it skips around a lot. This is around October, Sectionals were in September, school started in August, and the next chapter is going to be the day before Halloween (even though I know y'all want to have Jeff and/or Sebastian walk in and make a snarky comment about that last scene) I've just been spitting out chapters lately, which is a bit strange, but I'm sure y'all don't have a problem with it :). So yeah, review?**


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N: Here's a few "fluffy" chapters. Pusheen and I have decided to start putting in dates to help it be less confusing because it skips around so much. I almost posted it last night, but I couldn't keep my eyes open long enough to finish it and post it. Sorry. BUT I have gotten around to it today, so I think I have redeemed myself. Its also my fourth chapter this week. Enjoy!**

Reese's P.O.V.

_October 19__th__, 2012_

Reese pulled the cage out of the passenger side of the bug and would come back for the food later. She decided that she was settled in enough at Dalton to bring Chilla, her one-year-old, ebony chinchilla, to the dorm. As soon as she was two feet in the door, a cat jumped from a barstool and attacked her. Or more accurately, the cage that held Chilla.

"WHO'S DEMON CAT IS THIS?!" Reese set the cage on the counter and pried the cat off of it, hoping Chilla was not in shock or something. Hunter ran down the stairs and took the cat away from Reese looking offended.

"Mr. Puss is most definitely not a demon cat," he said.

Reese rolled her eyes and gave Hunter a nasty look, "I don't care what he is. Just keep him away from my Chilla."

Hunter, in response, took the cat downstairs and talked to him the entire way. Reese took Chilla's cage upstairs and tried to put it in a place that Mr. Puss wouldn't be able to get it.

_October 30__th__, 2012_

A few days later, Hunter asked Reese if she wanted to go down to the warehouse and spar for a little while. She accepted under the condition that he drove. She didn't want to have to wait 20 minutes so he could get in the Bug. So, he ended up having to pick her up and put her in his black SUV because she was too short to get in. Still didn't take as long.

They talked all the way to the warehouse, and were laughing about a comment that Jeff made about Aya by the time they got there. It didn't take Jeff very long to realize that she was the one he had taken a picture of on the street when Reese and Hunter went to go get coffee about two months ago. According to Sebastian he flipped out as soon as he realized it. Aya, however, had never seen him that day, so she thought that they'd never met before.

"If only she'd seen him," Reese said, jumping out of the vehicle.

"From what I know of her, she'd probably of hit him if she recognized him," Hunter said. He was walking backwards so he could talk to her. They'd become good friends, in Reese's opinion. Sometimes they'd go get coffee in the mornings before school or play video games together, but the couch rendezvous had been taken out of schedule due to Kylie being broken up with and Aya getting better headphones. Even if Kylie did whine for days.

They stretched and hit punching bags for awhile, but when they started to spar, something went wrong. Reese slammed Hunter onto the mat; but instead of him laughing and saying again, he jumped up and kicked one of the boxes. Reese looked at him attacking the piles of boxes until she finally decided to try and get his attention.

"Hunter," she said. He moved on to the punching bags and started hitting them furiously. Reese could see his face at this angle, and was shocked at what she saw. There was genuine rage there, and he had this wild look to him. She tried to get his attention again, "Hunter?"

His head snapped in her direction. He stalked over to her, hand raised as if he was about to hit her.

Hunter's P.O.V.

Hunter knew he had his hand raised, he knew it was Reese, but he didn't have any control anymore. His stupid anger issues had taken over and he immediately regretted flushing his meds that morning. He looked at Reese, silently begging her to understand if he did actually hit her.

Right when his fist was about to start moving, he looked into those big emerald green eyes of hers and saw shock, confusion, and possibly a little bit of fear. He felt the anger start to diffuse and felt his hand fall to his side.

"I knew you wouldn't hit me," Reese said. She looked a bit shaken, but also like she wanted to know what just happened.

"What makes you so sure?" he asked.

"You're not that kind of person," she said and started cleaning up the mess he had made with the boxes. "Want to talk about it?" she asked.

"Not particularly," he said. He was afraid she was going to press him for answers, but all she did was shrug and say "okay." They spent the rest of their time at the warehouse cleaning up the mess Hunter had made in a matter of seconds. He also knew his respect for Reese grew, considering she didn't ask him why or even think any less of him. Or at least he hoped.

The car ride back was normal. What happened at the warehouse was not mentioned again, thankfully. They conversed about little things, class, their roommates, his demon cat (yes, he did think Mr. Puss was a demon cat, but he would never admit that to Reese) amongst other things, carefully avoiding that one topic. When they parked in the driveway, Reese stopped him from exiting the car.

"I won't tell anyone," she said quietly to him. He nodded and exited the car, grateful for having Reese as a friend. He knew he had started to develop a crush on her, but chose not to act on it just yet because he didn't want to ruin their friendship. He was afraid he did today, but Reese didn't show any signs of disliking him. He stopped thinking about it, and unlocked the dorm. He was immediately met by piles of boxes.

"What in the world-?" he asked. "The transfer student must be moving in today."

Reese ran into him thinking he had moved farther into the dorm than he had. "Gosh, Hunter, you're like a brick wall," Reese said from behind him. He chuckled, glad to see that she didn't think he was a terrible person even though she had every reason to now that he nearly hit her. It would've been different if they were still sparring, but what triggered it was Reese slamming him down on the mat too hard when she won. He shook his head, _stop_, he thought.

"Well, are you going to move or are we just going to stand here all day?" Reese asked jokingly from behind him.

"I'm moving, relax," Hunter maneuvered around the boxes heading to the steps that led downstairs. "Thanks," Hunter said to Reese.

"For what?" she looked at him with a cute, confused look on her face.

"You know what I'm talking about," he smiled at her and went down to his room.

Reese's P.O.V.

When it started getting dark, a car pulled up in front of the dorm. Reese was in the kitchen, getting some leftovers when the doorknob started turning. Reese looked around the corner at the door, suspicious. She thought everyone was home now. Aya and Jeff were arguing upstairs, Sebastian was brooding about all the attention the girls were getting, and Hunter was trying to teach Kylie to play L4D2 with Reese's assistance. She was just hungry from brutally murdering zombies. She figured that that was everyone, so it must have been the headmaster or something. She knew about a new girl coming, but she wouldn't have come this late. Right?

The door opened to reveal a tall brown-eyed brunette clad in a black cloak. She was wearing all black and was extremely pale.

"Good evening," the girl said, revealing sharp canines and speaking with a heavy Romanian accent.

Reese screamed immediately ran upstairs and straight into Hunter for the second time that day. "What are you screaming about?" Jeff asked from the couch.

"Downstairs. Sharp teeth. Cloak. Pale. Vampire," Reese couldn't speak in complete sentences she was so scared.

Hunter laughed and remembered what she said something awhile ago about the new girl, Gabriella (Gabby), possibly being a vampire. Aya, who looked like she was interrupted mid-sentence, plopped down in an armchair obviously done arguing with Jeff.

"Is said vampire good looking?" Jeff asked, suddenly interested.

Reese played along, "Yeah, she's pretty. Just be careful if she starts _biting your neck!_"

"Just my type. Feisty," he got up and ran downstairs to be acquainted with Dalton's newest vampire.

"Reese, vampires don't exist. You're stereotyping her," Hunter rationalized.

"I'd just keep her away from Chilla. You never know what her diet is," Aya said casually. Reese ran up the stairs to protect Chilla from whatever horrors awaited her.

_October 31__st__, 2012_

Hunter's P.O.V.

Instead of dressing up for Halloween, the dorm mates decided to listen to Jeff and have everyone follow him in Kylie's truck, Gabby (the vampire, Hunter knew Reese still wasn't convinced otherwise) rode with Jeff. Gabby and Jeff had taken to each other and Reese said that she had a hunch that they would start dating soon. Aya, Kylie, Sebastian, Hunter, and Reese rode in Hunter's SUV. Reese sat in the front with Hunter, toying with the radio, while Kylie and Sebastian sat in the middle two seats, talking animatedly about shoe trends in New York, and Aya was in the back, sulking about not having someone to argue with anymore.

Jeff had told them to wear bathing suits and bring towels. Hunter knew that Reese knew exactly where they were going, but she played dumb and didn't leak any information. Aya was keeping watch over the cooler and the snacks so she wasn't technically in bad shape. In the back of Kylie's truck they had stuff to start a bonfire with.

As soon as they got to the edge of a heavily wooded area, Jeff stopped and jumped out of the truck's cab. Once everyone was out, Jeff addressed the group, "Everyone grab something from the back of Kylie's lovely truck or out of Hunter's SUV. We'll be walking to our destination." Kylie groaned and looked at the flip flops she was wearing. Hunter couldn't help but crack a smile.

"Dibs on the food!" Reese yelled and immediately grabbed the bags that had the hot dogs, chips, and snacks.

Hunter grabbed the bottle of kerosene and trailed her through the woods. He heard some loudly voiced complaints behind him so he walked a little faster to catch up to Reese. "So where exactly are we going?" he asked.

"You'll see," she had a towel thrown over her shoulder and Hunter grabbed it for her and carried it. Her hands were full and he had an empty one so why not?

"You obviously know where it is," he pressed. Reese shook her head at him refusing to tell him where they were going.

When they finally reached a clearing, Reese immediately dropped her bags at the edge and started running, black ponytail whipping behind her. On the way to the small lake in the center of the clearing, Reese started taking her clothes off as she ran (A/N: I realize this sounds a bit weird. Sorry) revealing an emerald green one piece bathing suit underneath. When she got her converse off, she jumped on a rope attached to a small building and swung off, landing a few feet away from a dock. When she surfaced she was laughing. "Gosh, I missed this place," she said. Hunter had to admit to himself that Reese looked beautiful when she smiled, then he felt his face get warm.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Jeff came up behind him. "The scenery I mean," Jeff said. Hunter knew he was referring to Reese, but didn't make a jab at him because he agreed. With his original meaning, and his correction.

"Jeff?" Gabby came out of the woods behind him; practically begging for his attention.

"Yes?" he turned around to look at the tall Romanian girl.

"Vhere are all the jelly donuts?" Gabby asked Jeff.

Jeff gestured to the bags Reese had dropped, "There."

"Thanks," she picked up a bag and pulled out a bag of jelly donuts from a local donut shop. She then proceeded towards a small picnic area and started sucking the jelly out of the donuts and _then _eating the donuts one by one. Reese, who was climbing onto the dock, looked horrified and jumped back into the water. Kylie, Sebastian, and Aya finally came through the forest and Kylie looked thankful when she saw the water. She looked as if she had fallen into mud earlier; when she saw the water she all but ripped off her cover up and bolted for the water.

Hunter looked around a bit more. It looked like Jeff had been there earlier, wood already piled up and wooden benches surrounding it. Jeff picked up the bags Reese had discarded and put them on the picnic table next to Gabby. The small building that supported the rope Reese had swung off of contained canoes and life jackets.

"What are you waiting for? Go swim," Jeff said, gesturing toward the water, and with that he took his shirt off and swung on the rope that Reese had swung on earlier. Hunter shrugged and followed suit. Aya finally stopped sulking (Hunter thought that it was just a teensy bit obvious that she might have feelings for Jeff, but didn't ask her because he didn't want to die) and got in, and Sebastian did a fancy flip in. Once Gabby was done with her donuts, she just stuck her feet and just sat there for awhile until Aya went underwater and grabbed one of her ankles and pulled her in. _Definitely not a sign of jealousy, _Hunter thought and smirked.

Today, Aya's hair was black. She definitely did not have a cheerful disposition today. He had learned from Reese that Aya's hair changed with her moods. It was also quite obvious to him that she didn't like Gabby, it could've been her actions or just taking Jeff's attention away from her. Hunter didn't particularly like Gabby; he always got a weird feeling around her. He couldn't pinpoint where it cam e from, or why, but he wasn't sure that he wanted her around Jeff.

"Careful, Aya. You don't want to make Fangs mad," Reese said.

"So she has a nickname now too?" Aya asked.

"Yeah everyone does. Jeff's is Loverboy, Sebastian's is Sass, Thad's is Clefty, Trent's is Pillsbury Dough Boy, Kylie's is Braids, yours is Gingersnap, Wes's was The Gavel, and Hunter's is… actually I don't have one for him yet. It was originally something about his blush, but It wasn't good enough," Reese furrowed her eyebrows together. "Hold on a second, let me go get my notebook." Reese went over to the ladder and started getting out, but Kylie gasped.

"You have a tattoo?!" Kylie screeched.

Reese grinned. "Yeah, it goes all the way up my back," she said as though it was common knowledge. Hunter was surprised he didn't notice it earlier. Vines twined around her right leg and under her bathing suit.

"Can we see?" Jeff asked in a smooth voice.

"Sure!" Reese said enthusiastically. This caused Hunter to blush crimson until she got up on the dock and simply turned around. Her bathing suit had a low-cut back, displaying even more vines twisting around her torso. She pulled her long ponytail around and pointed to the base of her neck where a small bird was perched. "See, there's even a Warbler on it too."

Jeff looked like she had ruined his life. He probably thought she was actually going to strip rather than simply turn around. But then again, Hunter thought the same thing.

"Gosh, Reese. That must've hurt," Aya said.

"It wasn't terrible," her voice once again sounded like she had experienced much worse. "Nothing I couldn't handle." She went off in search of her notebook.

When Reese came back, she came back with her hair down and a pencil tucked behind her ear. She was frowning. "I brought the wrong notebook," she then tossed the thing in the direction of her stuff. Hunter couldn't help but notice that the vines only twined up one leg rather than both of them. He also wondered why the vines weren't on her arms.

She caught Hunter staring. "I keep them covered up with heavy concealer all of the time. Especially if I'm going swimming or something, even if it does wash off eventually. That's why you didn't notice them earlier," she backed up a bit and dove in the lake. A few seconds later, Jeff was flipped backwards. After Jeff was under, Reese's head popped up. She gave a devilish smile, "Who wants to play a game."

Later that afternoon, when it was starting to get dark, Jeff and Gabby had disappeared and Reese was on her tenth s'more. Sebastian and Kylie had left in her truck because they didn't want to camp like everyone else was. They didn't bring tents or anything, but they did bring blankets and pillows. Once it started getting dark, it started getting colder. It was harder to forget that it was on the verge of November and that cold weather was coming.

Reese then announced that she had to pee and sauntered into the forest. "That girl has the bladder of a squirrel," Aya observed.

"Sometimes I wonder if she _is _a squirrel," Hunter said. Aya laughed. She was twirling a marshmallow around on a poker.

"I'm not trying to impose or anything, but you guys would be cute together," she said and popped the marshmallow off the poker and onto a graham cracker along with some chocolate.

"I don't think that Reese thinks of me that way," he admitted.

"Sure she does. She's just not the relationship type," Aya said and took a bite of her picture perfect s'more.

"Now how about we talk about your obvious jealousy of the attention Gabby is receiving from Jeff?" Hunter asked. Aya punched him in the arm. "Guess I don't get to butt into other people's business, noe do I? I hardly think that's fair," he said, pretending to pout.

"Oh, fine. I might—" she was cut off by a sudden yell.

"MY EYES!" Reese ran through the clearing and straight back into the lake, much like she did earlier.

When she surfaced she looked horrified. Aya was the first to recover from Reese's sudden outburst, "What happened?"

"I was trying to find a good place to pee when I ran across Jeff and Gabby in the forest making out. It was horrific," Reese said as she got out of the lake. Aya, who's mood visibly darkened, brought her towel to her.

"So I guess they're dating now, huh? That was quick," Hunter commented.

"Hopefully they'll break up just as quickly," Aya muttered.

Reese laughed and went to go warm up by the fire.

_November 1__st__, 2012_

Reese's P.O.V.

Reese was the first up the next morning. She was glad she was the first one up because she had received yet another note:

_Reese,_

_I didn't know you had a tattoo. _

_-L_

She threw it into the fire and went back to sleep.

Later, when she woke back up, Hunter looked extremely worried. "They left us. We're the last ones left," Hunter looked around, probably hoping for their missing companions to jump out of the trees or something.

"Its fine I know the way back," Reese went to retrieve her clothes and pulled them over her now dry swimsuit. Reese reached automatically for a hair tie so she could pull her hair back. She didn't find one. She realized that it must've slipped off in the water while she was swimming. "Great, now my hair probably looks like a hornet's nest," she muttered.

"It looks fine. Don't worry about it," Hunter reassured her.

She patted the unruly black curls doubtfully. "Well it looks like they took everything but my clothes, so I guess we can head back," she walked toward the gap in the trees. Hunter followed closely behind her. The next thing she knew, her toe had hit a bare tree root and she was airborne. She felt her ankle twist. Before she could hit the ground, she felt strong arms around her. Hunter set her upright, but she winced at a pain in her ankle.

"You okay?" he asked her. Reese hobbled over to a tree and sat down.

"I think my ankle is sprained," she said.

"Here," Hunter came over and picked her up. Reese protested. "Look, we're not going to get back to the car any other way, unless you want to limp all the way back."

"Fine, but at least carry me on your back," she complained. Hunter swung Reese around to where it looked like he was giving her a piggy back ride.

"Better?" Hunter asked her.

Reese scoffed.

When they got back, Jeff had apparently brought Reese's car back because the bug was where the truck and the SUV were the day before. "Remind me to murder Jeff," Reese said through her teeth.

When they got in the car, Hunter with some difficulty, Reese found another note in the passenger seat where she was sitting.

"What's that?" Hunter asked her from the driver's seat.

"Nothing," Reese said. She unfolded the note and read to herself,

_Reese-_

_I suggest you stay away from that boy._

_-L _

**A/N: Still curious about who you guys think L is. I'm also curious to know what you guys think of Gabby, Aya, and Kylie so far. This chapter is a little over 3,500 words long. Longest chapter I have ever written in my life. I'm very proud of myself. I'm glad to see the views have gone up, and I hope you are enjoying the story. Maybe you can tell me if you like it in a review? I'm going to be away over the weekend so I can't promise another chapter this week. Thanks for reading!**


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N: Here's the next chapter. There is fluff. And a long-awaited Huntcylia kiss. Does that earn me a review now? Probably not :( (Sorry I'm pushing reviews so much, Pusheen and I have just worked really hard on this and we want some feedback to see what y'all think about it). **

Hunter's P.O.V.

_December 21, 2012_

Hunter was looking for Reese and Aya. They had disappeared while all of them went last minute Christmas shopping. Jeff had sent him in search because last time he had left Reese in the mall alone she had started riding the kid-train (A/N: It's that train that mom's put their kids on while they go shopping that keeps the kids entertained… if you don't know what I'm talking about, ignore this. It's for the best) with a bull horn yelling for him. It made him nervous.

"Hey, you," Hunter heard loud whispering from behind him, but was pretty sure they were trying to get someone else's attention. "Hey! You with the converse!" He still thought that they were talking to someone else, he continued to look for Aya and Reese. "You with the cute butt, turn around!"

Hunter turned around and saw Reese waist-deep in a bush. She had binoculars hanging around her neck and a walkie-talkie in her hand. "Dang it, I thought I had Kylie's Christmas present!" she said, looking genuinely upset.

"What?" Hunter asked. Him? Kylie's Christmas present?

"Well," Reese said, looking guilty, "I was too cheap to buy her something, I had no idea what to get her, and she's been complaining how Aya, her, and I don't have boyfriends; so I decided to see if I could get her a boyfriend for Christmas. You do have a cute butt, just by the way." Hunter could feel his face get warm.

"What were you going to do, wrap him up and put him under the tree?" he asked. That sounded like a very Reese-thing to do. He had gotten to know her pretty well over the past couple of months, and he'd heard several stories similar to that one.

"No," she looked indignant, "I was going to put him in a box with food and water first." She also looked completely serious.

Hunter rolled his eyes. "So where's Aya?" he asked.

"In a trash can on the other side of the mall," Reese said. About then the walkie-talkie started crackling.

"Gingersnap to Shortie, I repeat, Gingersnap to Shortie!" came through the device.

"I told you to call me colonel!" Reese complained.

"Fine. Gingersnap to Colonel," Aya repeated through the device.

"This is Colonel," Reese said. She was still waist deep in the bush, and Hunter gestured to the tile floor. Reese stepped out of the bush and onto the tile floor, waiting for Aya's reply.

"I think we have found Kylie's Christmas present. He's tall, blonde, athletic build—wait a second, that's a mannequin. The view's not so great from a trash can," Aya said through the walkie-talkie. Reese sighed as if it happened before. Knowing Aya, it probably had.

"Well, I found Hunter, we'll be coming after you now. Roger,"

"Roger," Aya replied and the line went dead. Reese dropped the device into a few shopping bags that were in front of the bush she had recently occupied. He thought one of the bags was from a spy store.

"So I have a cute butt, now?" Hunter asked.

"Shut up," Reese said and elbowed him in the ribs.

When they got back from last minute Christmas shopping, Hunter and Reese accidentally tried to enter the dorm at the same time, resulting in them getting stuck in the doorway together. "Hey Reese," Jeff said and pointed above them. Hunter didn't have to look to know that somehow Jeff had smuggled mistletoe into the dorm.

"When I get out of here, Jeff, I am going to slap you so hard you won't be able to grow facial hair in the future," Reese said through her teeth.

"Oh come on, Reese it's Christmas," Kylie whined. "Kill him later, you have to abide by Christmas rules and kiss Hunter." Hunter didn't know why he was fine with this. It didn't bother him one bit. Not at all. He was actually kind of looking forward to it, assuming Reese actually went through with it.

"I wasn't planning on violating any Christmas rules," Reese said, Hunter mentally did a fist pump. He knew he had a crush on Reese, and wouldn't deny it in his head. If anyone else did however… "I just want to brutally murder Jeff first. I _know _that he planned this somehow."

"Hunter you haven't voiced your thoughts on this topic either," Jeff was a picture of innocence standing next to Gabby.

"I don't think you want to know," Hunter shot him a death glare; even though he wanted to throw Jeff a Thank You party.

"Look, at least let them out of the doorway first," Kylie said.

"Thank you, Kylie!" Reese said, looking as if she would hug the girl.

"Least I can do," the girl said and took a seat on a bar stool.

Reese did her best to back out of the doorway, and managed to get an arm out. She dropped one of the bags on the front stoop and put a hand against the doorframe, using the leverage to get herself out. Hunter couldn't do much because one of his hands was pinned to his side by Reese, and the other one was pinned to his side by the doorway.

"Now that you've gotten out, the show can go on," Sebastian said, looking amused. Reese shot him a look and retrieved her shopping bag. She looked up at Hunter and then turned to Jeff.

"He's too tall. I'd need a stepping stool," Reese said. Hunter couldn't help but laugh at that.

"Here, use this," Jeff slid one of the sofa ottomans over. Reese looked defeated.

"I guess I'm out of excuses, then," she sighed and climbed onto the ottoman, which made her Hunter's height exactly. He could see her emerald eyes perfectly and every single one of her freckles.

"Get on with it. I have things to do," Sebastian said impatiently.

"Fine," Reese said. She leaned forward and the next thing Hunter knew Reese's soft lips were on his. The kiss was over quickly and very chaste, but Hunter's face was still warm. Reese hopped off the ottoman and moved it back. "Happy?" she asked.

"Very," Jeff said and took his Christmas presents downstairs to his room. Hunter looked around and saw Aya on the steps, looking like she was going to explode with happiness.

"Aya if your grin gets any wider your face may be stuck like that. It's kind of scary," Kylie said from the bar stool she was sitting on. Aya just ran up the stairs squealing like a little girl. Hunter knew that she was rooting for them to date, and now Hunter was rooting for it too. He just didn't think Reese returned his feelings based off of how much she protested about it. But then again, he protested too, right?

_December 25__th__, 2012_

"Here," Reese threw the mail down on the table for Hunter to look through while she went upstairs to kick off her Converse. He knew Reese was going to be alone on Christmas and came home early to spend the rest of Christmas Day with her, much to her suspicion. Especially after the other day.

Hunter threw the envelopes addressed to Gabby from Romania and came across a folded note that didn't have an address on it. He unfolded it and found that it was addressed to Reese. He knew he shouldn't have read it, but did anyway:

_Reese-_

_Merry Christmas. Saw your stunt the other day. I told you to stay away from that boy, you should've listened._

_-L_

Hunter's brow furrowed. It didn't seem like something friendly; it seemed a little menacing to him. He heard footsteps on the spiral staircase and turned around.

"Where did you get that?" Reese asked, worry on her face.

"It was in the mail. Who's L?" he demanded.

"I don't know. I started getting them awhile ago," she looked a little ashamed. Hunter raised an eyebrow and she continued, "Relax. It's probably nothing."

"This one seems like an indirect threat Reese. That doesn't seem like nothing," Hunter said. She should've told them, or him, or _someone_.

"Really? Let me see it," she said. He handed her the note and she read through it, completely unfazed. "Like I said, nothing. I know it's a joke. It seems like something Jeff would do."

"You need to go to the police. Prank or not. It's still a threat to your wellbeing. It'd be terrible for all of us if you got hurt, let me help, my mom's a cop she can investigate it, and—"

"I can take care of myself, Hunter," she said, voice steely.

Hunter felt his emotions jumble up and then he felt his anger level rise. His demons had taken over and he couldn't control himself anymore. He saw his hand pick Reese up by her shirt collar, even though he didn't tell it to. But then he saw Reese's eyes fill with terror and he dropped her. His anger was gone.

Reese scrambled backwards until she reached the wall, and then she curled up in a ball next to the stairs. "I-I'm sorry, Reese. I didn't—" but before he could finish, Reese had jumped up and bolted down the staircase onto the main floor. Hunter followed, wondering why she looked so terrified.

She was curled up into a ball, covering her face with her hands, in a corner. Hunter went over to her and laid a hand on her shoulder, but immediately pulled it away when she said, "don't touch me." Reese's voice cracked and Hunter immediately apologized. Reese slowly lifted her head and Hunter saw that the terror was gone, replaced by relief. She immediately flew into his arms, crying. He rubbed her back, still a bit confused, and murmured comforting things to her until she stopped crying. The stood like that for awhile.

"I'm going to put you on the couch and get something for you to drink, is that okay?" Hunter asked, not wanting to do anything that might set her off again. She nodded, and Hunter guided her over to the living room couch, and she sat down mechanically. He guessed Reese wasn't all the way back yet.

**A/N: I felt like being mean and having y'all wait for the explanation in the next chapter. This is what happens when I don't get any reviews *pouts*. Please review? I really want to know what you guys are thinking about the story so far. I'm enjoying staying up until 5 in the morning to finish chapters (yet another reason for a review, especially since I have to get up at 7 this morning) and start new ones. I have a feeling this habit is going to carry on into the school year… *sigh*. What I do for you guys… **


	12. Chapter 11

**Welp, I've finally made it to Chapter 11. Can someone throw me a party and gift me reviews…? Pwease? MAKE SURE TO READ THE A/N AT THE BOTTOM IF YOU USUALLY IGNORE THEM… YOU'LL BE INTERESTED, TRUST ME.**

* * *

_December 25__th__, 2012_

Hunter's P.O.V.

Once he returned with two hot chocolates, Reese looked calmed down enough, but didn't look like she wanted to talk yet.

"I think I deserve to give you explanation," Hunter said carefully. Reese nodded, but didn't look at him. He handed her a hot chocolate, and she took a sip. "When I was six, I had an older brother named Zachariah. I idolized him then and listened to everything he said, until one day he took my favorite toy bear away and told me stuffed animals were for babies while he was babysitting me. Being the six year old that I was, I took it way too seriously and got extremely mad at him. My brother was an insomniac and he had to take sleeping pills, so my six year old self put together a brilliant plan to give him six or seven of those sleeping pills so he would sleep through school the next day and get into trouble."

Hunter's fists clenched, but he fought the anger down and continued, "That night before he brushed his teeth I dropped the pills in the water he would rinse his mouth in after he brushed his teeth. I didn't know that they would dissolve, but when they did I immediately thought that luck was on my side. I was wrong. It took a little while for the pills to take effect, he had tucked me in and given me my bear back so I could go to sleep. I immediately felt bad once he left and went to go tell him what I had done when he collapsed. When my parents came home I didn't tell them what I had done, afraid that I'd be in trouble. It took me until the next day to finally grasp the fact that he was never coming back. And ever since then, I've had diagnosed anger issues. A therapist gave me pills to take for it, but I've always flushed them down a toilet, afraid of what they would do to me."

Hunter took that moment to glance at Reese, who was looking at him with sympathy. "I owe you an explanation, too," she said after a moment. "Especially now that I'm the only person you've told the truth to."

Reese took a shaky breath and started her story, "My real father was a doctor and provided enough money for the household so my mum didn't have to work, but it was a real shame that he was a psychopath. He abused my brother and I, and did unspeakable things to my mother," Reese's voice cracked when she mentioned her mother, but continued on, "when my brother was thirteen and I was nine, my father found out that he was gay. Instead of sitting down and talking with him, he dragged me to the basement and strapped me to a table. Then, he brought my brother down and tied him to a chair and told him to watch or he would make it worse for me. He cut my shirt off and cut open my back, without anesthetic. He wouldn't let me pass out either, slapping me every time I was about to and saying that it was all going to be over soon in this cheery voice, like he was enjoying my pain. Once it was over he stitched me up and told my brother to fix himself or it would be worse the second time. He left me on the table and took my brother back upstairs for a continuation of his 'lesson'. A few hours later, my mum came downstairs and sang to me, called me her 'little warbler,'" Reese's voice cracked once more, and Hunter pulled her over to him and held her until she started speaking again. "When I was 10, a tornado came through where we lived and my father dragged my brother and I into the storm cellar and locked my mum out. He said to my brother and I 'that's what happens when you betray family' and started lighting up the storm cellar with emergency lights like mum wasn't being swept away in a tornado outside. Once I my brother turned 18, and I was 14, he took me away from my father and we went into hiding. He sent me to my new stepparents, Jim and Lucie, to try and get me farther away from my father. I've spent part of the summer with my brother in London ever since. I had a flashback earlier, they get triggered by physical contact." Reese looked at Hunter, her eyes huge on her petite face, still having traces of the tears she had shed for her mother.

"Reese—" Hunter almost said, but Reese rubbed the tears out of her eyes and stopped him harshly.

"I don't want your pity," she got up off the couch and was about to leave him there, but Hunter stopped her.

"I admire you," he said. He didn't pity her, not at all.

"What?" she asked, clearly shocked.

"I admire your strength. I admire your willpower. I admire _you_," he said.

Reese smiled. "That's the first time someone has said that to me," she said.

"So I guess the Warbler is for your mom?" Hunter asked, pointing to her neck.

"Yeah, I got this tattoo when my brother and I escaped to cover up that scar and to honor my mum," she was still smiling, as if that memory was a fond one.

"I'm still really sorry about earlier," Hunter said, even though Reese wouldn't accept his apology.

"Not your fault, and I'm not going to play the blame game. Now, let's go upstairs and play Skyrim. I don't want to be depressed the entire day," Reese smiled and motioned for him to come on. Hunter got up, but instead of following her to the stairs, he went over to the Reese-sized tree in a corner of the room and picked up a small package. "What are you doing?"

"Since it is Christmas, I want to give you this," he said. Reese opened her mouth to protest, but Hunter put up a hand to stop her. "Take it," he said.

She gave him a look and accepted it. She unwrapped the small box and opened the small jewelry box. Inside, there was a silver necklace with a warbler pendant on it. "See, now it matches your neck," he said, making Reese laugh.

"Thank you," she hugged him with arm and pranced up the steps. Hunter thought that he didn't mess up this Christmas too badly after all.

* * *

**A/N: So now you know Reese and Hunter's past. I feel like a terrible person because when Pusheen and I were coming up with Reese's past, I thought of a ton of things her father did to her as a child and had Pusheen pick one to highlight for the story. I also thought of Hunter's brother, Zachariah's death. I think she thinks I'm slightly disturbed mentally O.o. Well, I guess that's what I get for watching Hannibal, disturbing thoughts. I have been thinking about the lack of reviews, and I think I might've come up with a solution *evil laugh*. For the 25****th**** reviewer (and for the 50****th****, 75****th****, etc.) they will be inboxed with fluff from their favorite pairing (Anyone. Huntcylia, Jaya, Jabby, Seblaine *grin*, etc. They must be characters mentioned in the story, though). No lemons, sorry. So how about a review for the disturbed girl for the chance of exclusive fluff?**


	13. Chapter 12

**A/N: I am very happy with myself. Of course, I have taken a BIG risk with this chapter because Pusheen hasn't read it yet... So I'm not sure if some things might be changed or added later... O.o Sorry. I'm out of town and also on a tight schedule, so I don't know if I'll start writing another chapter now or wait until I get back. Don't forget about the 25 review thing! -Starshipranger99**

* * *

_December 29__th__, 2012_

Hunter's P.O.V.

Hunter had gotten close enough to Reese, and his feelings for her had grown enough, that he felt jealous when guys got around her. So you can understand that when a set of British twins showed up at their doorstep, Hunter felt like crawling up in a corner and growing mushrooms.

Griffin and Julian North had showed up at the dorm house that weekend, asking for Reese. Hunter had been the one to open the door, and he immediately became territorial. They told him that they were friends of Reese's from London, and were stopping by to wish her a Happy New Year. Sebastian had come down while they were talking, curious about the two boys at the door. Julian warmed up to Sebastian immediately, talking about musicals and such. He and Griffin, however, were lucky they weren't circling each other like cats.

Hunter was glaring at Griffin from an armchair while he was talking animatedly about how he had dated Reese while she was in London. They lived next door to her and her brother (still did) and were sad to hear when she moved to America. Reese chose that time to come downstairs with Jeff, saying something about food.

"Griff? Jules? What are you guys doing here?" she asked, looking like she had had a blast from the past. Hunter couldn't look past the fact that they had nicknames and he didn't. _Stop it_, he thought, _you're being childish. _

"Reese!" Griffin jumped up from where he was sitting to walk over and give her a hug, seeming like he knew all too well the effect it had on Hunter. "We missed you so much!"

Reese laughed. "Still clingy as ever, Griff," she said patting him on the back. "You can let go now." She looked annoyed.

"Right," Griffin smiled. He seemed like an idiot to Hunter, but he didn't say anything about it.

Jules turned around from where he was sitting next to Sebastian on the couch and said, "The idiot wanted to stop by to see how you were coping with America. I told him that you'd been here for four years and that you were already settled, but the boy would not listen." He grinned at her and then turned back around to talk to Sebastian again. (A/N: I kind of based Griff off of Tamaki from Ouran High School Host Club, for those of those who know what that is. We hadn't really written much for him, so I just kind of made him an idiot that focused on one thing and one thing only. Tamaki's traits just sort of integrated themselves in, I guess O.o.)

"Well, I guess that since you guys are here we can go out for coffee?" Reese asked. Griffin nodded enthusiastically, but Jules looked more interested in what Sebastian was saying than coffee. "Hunter, do you want to come?"

"Sure," he said, hoping to keep Reese and Jules from catching up too much. Jules smile faded a bit and switched to a frown.

"Let me go get my shoes," Reese said, and ran back up the stairs to her room. Hunter's mind wandered to where his other roommates were. Gabby and Jeff were probably off somewhere, and Kylie and Aya were probably plotting ways to split them up. It was kind of an unhealthy obsession Aya had possessed, Reese had told him, and Kylie was apparently encouraging the unhealthy habit because she was looking for something to do. Kylie not having a boyfriend was really messing with her head at this point, and Aya's hair was still black from Gabby dating Jeff. Reese was worried. Hunter only knew all this because he had made the mistake of asking Reese what the other girls were up to one morning before school while they were getting coffee.

Another unhealthy obsession Aya had was Huntcylia. The idea of Reese and Hunter dating was a close second when it came to Jeff and Gabby breaking up. She was constantly dropping hints as to why they'd "make a good couple" or "how cute they looked together". Sometimes Hunter had the urge to scream "I KNOW" at her, but managed to withhold it. He knew it would only make the situation worse.

"Ready to go?" Reese stirred Hunter out of his thoughts when she came bounding down the stairs.

"Yup," Griffin said cheerfully from the bar stool he was sitting on. Hunter got out of his chair and walked over to where Griffin and Reese were standing.

"I'll drive," Hunter said, grabbing his keys before either one volunteered. He knew Reese sometimes had the tendency to drift over to the left side of the road, and he knew that Griffin would've been a whole lot worse.

* * *

While they were in the Lima Bean, "catching up" (more like Hunter sitting in his chair glaring down Griffin, who was doing everything in his power to irritate the crap out of him) Reese had to use the little girl's room. Hunter had made a new discovery about Griffin while she was gone.

"I don't know who you think you are, but I know you aren't dating Reese so back off," he said from across the table. Hunter merely raised his eyebrows. "I intend on getting Reese back while I was here, and I am not letting you get in the way of that plan." So Griffin wasn't as big of an idiot as Hunter thought. There was actually a brain in that head of his. (A/N: I said earlier I based him off of Tamaki, I based his less sinister self off of Tamaki. I didn't want to say that yet, though. Just clearing that up a bit.)

"Congratulations on acquiring brain cells, Griffin," Hunter smiled at him mockingly. Griffin opened his mouth, but closed it once again as Reese came over and sat back down.

"So what were we talking about?" Reese asked with a smile.

* * *

_January 1__st__, 2013 (New Year's)_

Hunter was out on the balcony with everyone who attended the New Year's Party that the seniors always threw. He saw Reese standing with Aya and some other girls who showed up. She was in a black cocktail dress, looking completely and utterly bored. _Then those must be Crawford girls_, Hunter thought.

The party wasn't necessarily a black tie event, but all the guys dressed nicely, and all of the girls wore dresses. It was usually how parties went at Dalton. They were going to be there until midnight, and Hunter knew it was close. Or at least he hoped it was close. It had started to snow lightly, and all of the Crawford girls were attaching themselves to anything that was male and had body heat. Hunter had to dodge a few girls and had almost made it over to where Reese and Aya were standing to see if they wanted to ditch the party, when Gabby went up on a raised platform that was acting as a stage and called for everyone's attention.

"I have an announcement to make!" she waited for everyone to look at her. _This party was Jeff's idea, why wasn't he making the announcements?_ Hunter thought. Then he remembered something Jeff had said about loving Gabby's accent and rolled his eyes.

"It will be New Year's in 3…2…1! Happy New Year's!" Hunter heard a loud _smack_ behind him once Gabby was done speaking. Gabby's smile had faded and her eyes were directed behind him.

Hunter turned around to see Griffin holding his face and Reese looking furious and her face flushed with color. _What did that jerk do? _Hunter immediately thought. Jeff was holding his glass in a death grip where he was standing; over next to where Gabby was standing before she had gotten on stage.

Everything was painfully silent, and Hunter just wanted to know _what was going on_. Griffin spun on his heel and walked out, and his brother handed his glass to Sebastian and went after him. Reese's posture relaxed and Aya resumed speaking to her. She nodded her head at whatever Aya had said and smiled. The room's conversation started back up, which still didn't help Hunter's nerves. He walked over to Reese and listened to what she, Aya, Kylie, and some other girls were talking about.

"… so then I was like, screaming because my dad had accidentally shot one of my ex-boyfriends in the side. But despite being shot, he stood up and said, ''tis only a flesh wound!' and I died," Kylie was saying.

"So rednecks know about Monty Python huh?" one of the girls standing around them asked.

"What?" Kylie asked. She was twisting one of her curls around her finger and had a dumb look on her face.

"Nothing," Aya sang, and looked once more at Reese worriedly, before she started up yet another conversation.

"Hey, Reese, can I talk to you for a second?" Hunter asked.

A blonde turned around and gave him a nasty look , "You aren't going to kiss her are you?"

"Shut up, Lissa," Reese muttered and moved out of the circle of people she was talking to. Reese grabbed his hand and led him over towards the empty doors. Hunter was surprised that she had grabbed his hand , but didn't say anything (meaning he blushed, as per usual).

"What did she mean when she asked me if I was going to kiss you?" Hunter asked in a low voice. He had a pretty good idea, but didn't want to believe it.

"Griff kissed me at midnight. I slapped him. It wasn't a big deal," Reese shrugged.

Hunter felt a little bit of anger rise, but pushed it back down before it took over. "Not a big deal? You'll really need to tell me what a big deal is, then," Hunter said. Reese's eyes hardened and she lifted her chin in defiance.

"I took care of it, Hunter," Reese said in a hard tone of voice.

"No you didn't, Recylia," he said, in an equally hard tone.

"Hey guys! How are we doing?" Jeff came up to them, acting like he didn't have a care in the world.

"I'm leaving," Hunter and Reese said in at the same time. Reese glared at Hunter and Hunter glared at Reese. She started to stalk out the doorway, but Jeff put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

"Are you sure you're alright?" he said and concern showed on every inch on his face. Reese gave him an angry glare over her shoulder and ripped her shoulder out of his grip. She slammed the door closed behind her. "Okay, so she's obviously not," Jeff concluded.

Hunter looked at his friend and shook his head; then he went to go apologize to Reese.

* * *

**A/N: Don't forget the reviewing competition! Always running! 24/7! I really need a life...**


	14. Chapter 13

**A/N: Not Augustana, but wished I owned Boston. Also don't own the other songs (Bohemian Rhapsody and Brokenhearted). I'm starting to realize how ridiculous disclaimers are. I mean really, this is a FANfiction site. Why would anyone think that a fan of something would own it. Unless someone was really full of themselves.**

**Still no new reviews. Is my contest really that much of a bad idea? It was a spur of the moment type of thing. Well here's an idea, tell me in a review! *looks around* Tough crowd. *Goes and flushes her head in the toilet* **

* * *

_January 15__th__, 2013 _Regionals

Reese's P.O.V.

Reese rode up to McKinley on her motorcycle. Her Bug had broke down a day before and she and Hunter did as best as they could at Burt's auto shop (just because she didn't like Kurt and Blaine's relationship didn't mean she didn't like Kurt and his dad) when it broke down, but the car refused to run.

She had to change into her outfit in the school. She had come directly from the auto shop, still trying to fix the Bug, to Regionals, so Kylie had to bring her uniform to her. She hopped off her bike, put her helmet on the handlebars, and walked into the school.

She found some of her group in the same classroom as before. Gabby and Sebastian were absent, so Aya was fussing over Jeff's tie. _Just like old times_, Reese thought to herself and then chuckled. Reese had got Aya, Kylie, and Gabby to join the Warblers after a month of convincing and several bribes. And even a little bit of blackmail mixed in. Gabby only joined because Jeff was in it, and Kylie said that she would join if she and Aya could design costumes for the various school performances they did, including the musical that was coming up. Kylie was forcing Reese to try out for the lead **(A/N: Not telling you what it is yet *evil grin*. Honestly, we're stuck between two, one isn't serious at all, and the other one is one of my favorites). **In the end, they had joined and all could sing very well. The Warblers just really needed some more female voices, and now they sounded a little bit more complete than they had before.

Hunter was getting a demonstration from Nick on how to _properly _tie his tie. He hadn't buttoned his dress shirt yet, and Reese could see his abs underneath the shirt. _Stop, _she told herself, _hand at the level of your eyes _**(A/N: *Wink, wink. Hint, hint* for all of you who get that reference)**. She hadn't been able to get Hunter off of her mind lately. He was always there. What'd he'd told her, and how he had reacted when she'd told him. He had held her when she had started crying about her mum like it was the most natural thing in the world. She felt _safe _for once in her life. Reese dismissed the feelings and grabbed her uniform from beside Kylie, who was talking animatedly about something with Trent, and slipped away before anyone noticed her.

Reese had a big piano solo tonight. She had been taught by her mum, and had continued to learn after she died. Now she could just play about any song by ear and have it down in a few hours. This year for Regionals, they sent you a certain letter from the alphabet, and all of your song titles had to start with that letter.

They had decided that the girls would do their own opening number, using the guys as props and for the backup vocals. A few other girls Reese knew from a dance studio she attended regularly had joined the Warblers (Hunter eventually made Reese co-leader because of her ability to recruit girls) and they had enough to where they could pair a few of the guys off with the girls and the rest be off stage and have enough volume. Then, Hunter had a solo (thankfully not Whistle) and Reese was his dance partner for that as well as the previously mentioned one. Then, Reese went solo, without backup vocals, just her and her piano. It's not that she was nervous, she just didn't want to disappoint.

She was in a bathroom covering up what you could see of her leg tattoo through pantyhose, when Aya stormed in. Irritated as ever.

"I cannot stand Gabriella," Aya said, taking the opportunity to vent to Reese. "She has done nothing but complain since she found out I was partnered with Jeff for Brokenhearted. She gets to perform with him for Bohemian Rhapsody so I don't think she should complain that much."

Reese calmly applied a layer of concealer to her leg and said, "Have you tried putting the moves on him?"

"The moves? How old are you?" Aya laughed. "Here let me help you. It'd be bad if you got any of that in your hair." Kylie had made Reese put something in her hair that would tame her wild curls so they fell in soft ringlets, and Reese definitely did not want to suffer through that again, so she allowed Aya to help. Just this once.

"I'm being serious. There's no chance of anything happening unless you step up and say something. Also known as putting the moves on someone," Reese said and Aya smirked and looked up at Reese. Reese raised her eyebrows as if to say listen to me, and Aya's smirk turned into a grin. "What?"

"What do you call Hunter flirting with you then? There's obviously something going on in his head, but you always seem so oblivious to it," Aya said, quirking an eyebrow. Reese's face went bright red and she started fiddling with her tie. "So the Ice Princess _does _like him!" Aya said and clapped her hands together after she set the concealer on the counter.

Reese remained silent. She had no idea how she felt. None whatsoever. So she said instead, "I'm done talking about this." Aya surrendered, but continued to make subtle hints about her and Hunter. Once again, Reese had put her more—romantic feelings on hold.

* * *

Hunter's P.O.V.

Right before Reese's piano solo, right after Bohemian Rhapsody, their dance performance had put Reese and him close together. Close enough for him to whisper "good luck" right in her ear before she strode over to the piano. He thought that he may have seen a blush, but he wasn't sure.

_In the light of the sun_

_Is there anyone? Oh, it has begun_

Reese's beautiful voice serenaded the crowd. He looked out and saw that she had everyone hooked. They all knew that the Warblers were an all-male acapella group. So a pretty girl on a piano singing was a bit of a shock for them. Hunter smiled and returned his attention back to Reese.

_Oh, dear you look so lost. Your eyes are red, the tears are shed_

_This world you must have crossed, you said_

Hunter felt a little bit of pride. Reese had the crowd wrapped around her pinky finger. She had written the entire accompaniment for the piano by herself and her voice was outstanding. Hunter thought they could've won if this was the only thing they had done.

_You don't know me_

_And you don't even care, oh yeah_

_And you said, you don't know me_

_And you won't wear my chains, oh yeah_

Hunter had started to focus on the little crease Reese got between her eyebrows when she played. Every once in awhile, she'd look up and her face looked expectant, as if she was thinking someone might be there for her. Hunter thought it might've been her mom.

_Essential, yet appealed_

_You carry all your thoughts across an open field_

_Where flowers gaze at you_

_They're not the only ones who cry when they see you_

"She's a real treasure isn't she?" Jeff said from behind him. Hunter nodded and went back to watching Reese play. She was developing a small smile, apparently enjoying what she was doing.

_Well you said you don't know me_

_And you don't even care, oh yeah_

_Well you said you don't know me_

_And you don't wear my chains, oh yeah_

Hunter felt something rise in his chest. Not anger, it wasn't boiling or unpleasant; in fact, it was quite the opposite. Being the confused teenager that he was, he didn't know what it was, and didn't dwell on it very long.

_He said I'll go to Boston_

_I think I'll start a new life_

_I think I'll start it over_

_Where no one knows my name_

The feeling came back, and Hunter shoved it down. Not wanting to be distracted right then and there. _Man, she's beautiful when she's singing, _Hunter thought. He couldn't wait to tell her how great she did later.

_I'll get out of California _

_I'm tired of the weather_

_I think I'll get a lover_

_And fly 'em out to Spain_

_Oh yeah and I think I'll go to Boston_

_I think that I was tired_

_I think I need a new town_

_To leave this all behind_

_I think I need a sunrise_

_I'm tired of a Sunset_

_I hear it's nice in the summer_

_Some snow would be nice, oh yeah_

Reese's lashes were covering her eyes and she chose that moment to look up at him. His knees went weak and he felt like he was going to fall to the floor. Her emerald green irises seemed to be staring right through him.

_You don't know me_

_And you don't even care, oh yeah_

She smiled at him, and it was over. Everything made sense to him in that moment. His universe was revolving around one thing now.

_Boston, where no one knows my name_

_Where no one knows my name_

_Where no one knows my name, yeah_

_Boston, where no one knows my name_

That one thing, was the fact that he, Hunter Clarington, was in love with Recylia Lester.

* * *

Reese's P.O.V.

She found a bouquet of roses on her bike along with another note:

_Reese-_

_You really are your mother's daughter. I really wish I could get a private performance._

_-L_

She tore up the note, threw the bouquet in the bushes, and rode away from Lima as fast as she could. She'd be back in the dorms in the morning, she just needed to get away from that place.

* * *

**A/N: ANY fluff you guys want. All reviewers get cyber cookies… I might even answer some questions for my author notes. You never know… Other people on Fanfiction have given me ideas for how to do my author's notes so they might be changed up a bit soon so they aren't as boring to read :). Thanks to all of the readers! I love you guys, have some cyber cookies *hands out the cookies*.**


	15. Chapter 14

**A/N: Hallo! Over a thousand views and only one new review. From one of my friends no less. NO CYBER COOKIES FOR YOU GUYS… *pouts in the corner***

* * *

_January 16__th__, 2013_

Hunter's P.O.V.

Hunter hadn't seen Reese since Regionals ended the previous night, when he saw her bike speed out of the parking lot. He was worrying so much, Jeff had to tie his hands to a chair to get him to stop tapping anything and everything in sight. The dorm phone rang, and Hunter immediately jumped up, bringing the heavy chair with him. He ended up unbalanced and on the floor with a chair on top of him.

"I'll get it!" Aya jumped out of the kitchen from where she was arranging and rearranged the glassware. She picked up the phone. "This is Aya speaking," she said. "Oh my, God. Is she alright?" Aya's face immediately went from worry to shock and her voice went up an octave. Hunter was tapping his feet anxiously now. "Okay, we'll be there in a few minutes." Aya hung up the phone and leaned against the bar counter. Her eyes were tearful, and Jeff, who had remained silent, went over and laid his hands on her shoulders.

"What is it?" Jeff asked. Aya shook her head and her tears spilled over. Jeff enveloped her in a hug and let her cry into his shoulder. Once she had finished, she hiccupped and pulled away.

"Reese apparently was driving really fast and she ran a red light last night after Regionals. But before she got fully across the street, a car hit her. That was her step-mom, she said something about internal bleeding caused by broken ribs poking holes in her abdomen. She also has a broken leg and several bruises, and she's more purple than skin color. Something about going into surgery to stop the bleeding and then to set her leg back into place," Aya was looking at the floor as she said this, but Hunter didn't have to see her face to know that she was afraid for Reese.

Hunter felt dread. An all-consuming dread that made him forget everything else. Their victory over McKinley at Regionals, how he had finally realized that he was in love with Reese, and definitely about this mysterious L that was writing those notes to Reese all left his mind.

"We have to get there. Now," Jeff ran over to the stairs and yelled up for Kylie and Sebastian. His voice was wavering, and Hunter remembered about how they had been friends since her freshman year and how close they were now. Jeff had to be completely messed up over this, but he was staying composed for Aya.

"What?" Sebastian asked, immediately followed by Kylie.

"Reese is in the hospital, we'll tell you everything in the car," Jeff said. He untied the bonds around Hunter's wrists, which he was grateful for. He realized that the tapping was getting annoying, but it helped to calm him down.

* * *

The ride in the car had more tears from Kylie and an unusual amount of raw expression from Sebastian. Jeff continued to comfort Aya, Gabby was out with her mom for the day, and Kylie was huddled in the back, practically a teary-eyed mess. Hunter wished his emotions weren't frozen, so he could express them, but he had kept them like that, afraid of what would happen if he did unleash them.

Reese's step-mom met them in the hospital lobby. Her eyes were puffy and red and she looked like she would fall over in one big pile of sadness at any minute. "Aya?" she looked at the girl whose hair had been dyed pink for the time being. Aya ducked out from under Jeff's arm and went to go talk to Reese's step-mom.

They walked away, leaving the rest of them standing near the door. Jeff led them to a few chairs on the far right. Kylie started texting like crazy, trying to keep herself distracted. _It's not like she's dead, calm down, _Hunter thought. It looked like he would be fighting with himself until Aya returned. When this happened, his optimistic side and his realistic side split up, giving him a headache on top of all this.

After an hour of silence and waiting on Aya to come back, Sebastian had a very uncharacteristic fit. "Why are you and Aya so upset anyway? You guys hardly know Reese and you guys are being more emotional than we are and we've known her the longest," he snapped at Kylie. Hunter was shocked. Sebastian was always cool and indifferent in every single situation, and Hunter hadn't expected anything different from him now.

"Believe it or not, _Sebastian_," she said angrily, "Reese, Aya, and I have become really close friends. That tends to happen at a formerly all-guys school." Sebastian's expression went from angry to guilty to closed off within a matter of seconds. He had retreated back inside himself, closing off his emotions once more.

"Sorry," he muttered and sat back down in the uncomfortable hospital chair.

Another hour later, Aya came back and sat down in between Jeff and Kylie. "Well?" Kylie asked impatiently.

"She's out of surgery. They fixed the bleeding and now they have to set her leg. Other than a few minor cuts and loads of bruises she's alright," Aya said. The entire group let out a breath.

"What were you doing in there for two hours?" Hunter asked.

"They needed me to help calm her down. She freaked out every time the anesthesia wore off and she woke up. Her step parents thought I could help calm her down when she woke up," Aya said, picking at the hem on her shirt.

"_Every time _the anesthesia wore off?" Kylie asked.

Aya smiled ruefully. "These doctors apparently don't know how much anesthesia a person needs. When they were prepping her for surgery she woke up kicking and screaming, when they were bringing her back to her room she woke up kicking and screaming, and when she woke up the third time she was kicking and screaming. I was with her the last two, but the first one was the worst from what I heard. She ended up kicking a doctor with her bad leg, only succeeding in making the break worse. She must have some sort of serious phobia when it comes to doctors or something," she said. Aya didn't know the half of it. She must've been having a flashback or something when she saw the doctors and the machines before they put her back under. At least she didn't wake up during the surgery.

"When can we see her?" Jeff finally spoke. He had been silent since they had gotten to the hospital.

"When she wakes up after they've set her leg. They're going to have her move rooms and then it's two at a time," she looked around. "Do you think this place has a cafeteria?"

"Yeah," Hunter said. His own stomach growled and he got up. "I don't know where it is, but I saw a sign. Now that we know that she's alright and it's going to be a little bit before we see her we can go eat something."

Aya, Kylie, and Sebastian got up and followed them, but Jeff stayed there. Hunter didn't say anything; he knew Jeff was worried about Reese. They all were, but there wasn't anything they could do, and it didn't help to starve themselves.

* * *

Reese's P.O.V.

Reese woke up with an intense pain in her head. Her glasses were on the tip of her nose so she brought a hand up to push them back. _Wait a second, last time I checked I was wearing my contacts,_ she thought. She looked at her hand as it came up to push her glasses up and saw an IV and a hospital bracelet. _What?_

She looked around and saw a normal hospital room, and saw that she was hooked up to about a thousand machines. Her step-mum was asleep in a chair next to the bed, and her step-father's voice was coming through the crack in the slightly-open door.

Reese tried to remember something from the previous night, but only remembered Regionals, finding another note, and speeding away from McKinley on her bike. "Mum?" she asked in a small voice.

Her eyes cracked open and she smiled a bit. "You're awake. I was afraid you'd freak out again, but I guess since there weren't any doctors around when you awoke, you didn't," she said. She righted herself and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "Some of your friends are here."

That made Reese feel a bit better, but she still didn't know what had happened, and she told her step-mum as much. She frowned a bit in response, but thought it was for the best. "You sped through a red light on your bike and a car hit you. You broke your leg, a few ribs, and had some internal bleeding but other than that you're fine.

"That explains why there's a cast on my leg," she said, looking at the pink monstrosity.

"They didn't know what color you wanted but they thought since you were a girl that you would want pink," her step-mum said apologetically. "I wasn't there to tell them that you hate pink."

"Figures," Reese muttered and put her head back down on the pillow. Her eyes were shutting without her permission and she had fallen asleep once more.

* * *

The next time she woke up, Hunter and Jeff were having an animate conversation and Sebastian was leaning against the sink. All of them looked tired and worried.

"Well, look who's finally awake," Sebastian said, not succeeding in putting any sarcasm into his voice. Hunter and Jeff stopped talking to look at her, and she knew she wasn't worth looking at right then. She was pretty sure she looked like a mess.

"I didn't know I was on a schedule. You guys look terrible," she replied.

"Look who's talking. You don't look too great yourself," Jeff said.

"I have a reason to not be my usually attractive self right now. _I _got hit by a car. You, however, should be your usual attractive Warbler selves. Dalton has a reputation of hot guys to live up to, and you aren't upholding it," Reese said and smirked.

"Now that the pleasantries are through," Hunter said, looking pointedly at Jeff and Sebastian, "how are you?" Now he was looking at her.

"I'm fine. Other than having this stupid pink _thing _on my leg," she dramatically gestured to her leg, "everything is absolutely peachy." She wasn't kidding. She felt fine, nothing in pain and no nausea. Even if she had been in surgery a couple of hours ago.

"They say you can go home in about a week," Jeff said. "But unfortunately, you'll have to practically live in the living room until your leg is strong enough to withstand a boot. Then you can use the stairs, but until then the only way to get around is crutches and getting carried up stairs."

"No way am I being carried up the stairs!" Reese protested.

'Do you want to shower or not?" Sebastian asked.

Reese huffed, but muttered "yes" in response. This was going to be a long four weeks.

* * *

**A/N: I hate it, but it had to be done. Not quite satisfied with this chapter, but I kind of wanted to get the point across of Reese becoming really close friends with Kylie and Aya. There really is not anything that brings this point in the story back up, so it's kind of pointless… YOU SEE WHAT THIS NO REVIEWS (except for that one) ARE MAKING ME DO?! DO I HAVE TO GO OFF THE GRID FOR A MONTH OR TWO TO—Pusheen: Sorry guys! She's been like this all week *drags a ranting Starshipranger out of the room and locks her back in the attic* please review for her sanity. Thanks!**


	16. Chapter 15

**A/N: I have changed the A/N's from now on *evil grin* Pusheen- Get out of there, you need to write this. Starshipranger- BUT I'M NOT COMING OUT UNTIL I GET A REVIEW! Pusheen- PetrastellaX did. She also wanted to know if Blaine and Reese ever reconcile. Starshipranger- *pokes head out of the attic* Thank you so much! But I'm sorry, you'll have to read to find out. But here's a cookie! *hands cyber cookie* Pusheen- *sigh* here's the chapter…**

* * *

_February 7__th__, 2013 _

Hunter's P.O.V.

Hunter was studying when he heard the wind. It was howling and practically bending the trees outside. He and Reese were alone in the dorms for the day, and he could hear the gunshots from her playing L4D2 upstairs. He was doing homework at the kitchen bar, looking up something on his phone. Right about then a tornado warning popped up on his phone.

_…Get to the nearest underground shelter or place without windows. Spotted in Lima…_

Hunter was bounding up the stairs to get Reese before the warning was even over. Each of the dorm houses had cellars attached on the outside where they would be safe until the storm passed.

"We need to go," Hunter said, turning the Xbox off.

Reese looked at him, offended that he's dare turn off her baby. "Why?" she crossed her arms on the couch. She had her boot propped up on the coffee table in front of her. She was supposed to have it off tomorrow.

"Tornado," he said. Reese jumped up with an amazing speed, considering her leg, and limped over to the stairs.

"You coming?" she asked. "We better get down there now."

Hunter followed, amazed at how she could be aggravated and aggravating at the same time. He added that to the list of things he loved about her. She ran for the front door, flinging it open. She stopped abruptly at the front stoop, ponytail flying in the wind.

"Are you coming?" Hunter asked. She wouldn't budge. He went around her and waved a hand in front of her face, "You there?"

Her eyes were wide open, but were clouded over. It was the look she got when she was remembering things from her past. Hunter knew if they didn't get down to the cellar in time it would be bad, so he risked getting yelled at later by grabbing her hand and half-dragging her to the cellar. He led her in and locked it up, hoping that wherever their friends were that they were safe.

Reese mechanically walked over into the middle of the cellar where there was a long-discarded couch and sat down, the hazy look gone. "I hate tornadoes," she muttered.

"Kind of picked that one up," Hunter said. He went over to a shelf that had a gasoline lamp and some matches and lit the lamp. "Might as well make ourselves at home."

* * *

About an hour later, Hunter was pacing in front of the couch Reese was on. She had her legs pulled up to her chest and her chin resting on her knees.

"_Would you stop that insolent pacing,_" Reese snapped. Her eyes had been closed a majority of the time, but they flew open when she snapped at him. Then her expression softened and she apologized, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you. It's just I _really _hate tornados."

Hunter went over and sat on the couch about six inches away from her. "It's fine, I'm stressed out too. Don't worry about it," he said. She rested her forehead on her knees and continued whatever she was doing earlier.

About that time, there was an enormous clap of thunder and Reese jumped on the couch to where she was sitting right next to him. Hunter's arm instinctively went around her, and she relaxed a bit, putting her head on his shoulder.

"Hey, Hunter?" Reese asked, lifting her head from his shoulder a few minutes later. He turned his head to look at her. He felt himself drowning in the two beautiful green emerald orbs she had for eyes again, and subconsciously knew he was leaning in to steal a kiss. He half-expected Reese to hit him before he even got to brush his lips across hers, but when he finally did, her arms went around him instead. She pulled away to look at him for a second and then she smiled at him, a real smile, and said, "Not what I was going to ask, but I'm fine with the sudden plot twist." He kissed her again, and she brought her hands in his hair, probably making it stick out everywhere. He brought his hand up and took out the rubber band that kept her hair up. She frowned a little but he felt it go away. He pulled away and put his forehead against hers.

"Problem?" he asked teasingly.

"You stole my hair bow," she said. She had a little pout on her face and a set to her mouth that Hunter found adorable. She was blushing just a little bit under the freckles that lined her cheeks.

"You stole my heart," he said back, causing her face to get redder.

"I'm lactose intolerant, Hunter. It means I'm allergic to cheese. The amount of cheese in what you just said would put cheese factories to shame," Reese said. "Now give me the hair bow back."

"No," he refused. Reese gave him the look that usually had a side of imminent death. He shook his head and put it around his wrist.

"Fine then," Reese said and kissed him again. His arms automatically went around her, but her hand intercepted his own and got the ponytail holder back. She pulled away from him in victory and jumped off the couch. "I win," she said and started putting her hair back up.

"That was cheating," Hunter said.

"Get used to it," she stuck her tongue out at him from where she was standing and then sat back down on the couch.

An hour later, both of them had fallen asleep on the couch in the cellar.

* * *

_February 8__th__, 2013_

Reese's P.O.V.

Reese woke up lying on Hunter's chest in the cellar. He was filling the small space with his obnoxiously loud snoring. She reached up and flicked his nose, which got him to stir, but he didn't fully wake up. She kissed him on the nose and ruffled his hair.

"I'm not five," Hunter mumbled. Reese laughed and bopped him on the nose.

"I know," she said, "but you're cute when you sleep."

"I don't know if that's flattering or creepy," Hunter opened his eyes a little to see Reese right in his face. He leaned up and brushed his lips across hers and put his head back down on the sofa.

"Nope," she said, and lightly hit his forehead. "I want food, but I'm not leaving you down here, so come on."

"Fine," Hunter sat up and pointedly looked at Reese, "but you're going to have to get off of me first."

"Right," Reese said and got off of him and the couch. He ran a hand through his already messed up hair and got up. He opened the cellar doors and Reese led the way to the back door of the dorm house.

Jeff was standing in front of the door with his hands on his hips, tapping his foot impatiently. "Where have you two been all night? I didn't get a single phone call, text message, IM, nothing! And here you two are sneaking in the back door! What do you have to say for yourselves?"

"Nothing… dad," Reese smirked at him.

"Son, daughter, I won't ask you again. What do you have to say for yourselves," he looked completely serious. Had he hit his head on something?

"Jeff?" Hunter asked from behind Reese.

"It's daddy to you," he said pointedly.

"There was a tornado yesterday. We were in the cellar and fell asleep," Reese said. Had Jeff finally cracked? Or did Gabby do some sort of vampire voodoo magic on him?

"Oh, yeah," Jeff said and walked away. Reese looked at Hunter, shrugged, and went to go scavenge for food in the kitchen. She grabbed the carton of eggs from the fridge and turned on the stove. As she cracked the eggs and started beating them in a bowl, Hunter came up behind her and put his arms around her waist. She turned her head and kissed him on the cheek. Then there was a muffled wail in the direction of the stairs.

Reese leaned over the counter and saw Aya at the steps, hands over her mouth, frozen and trying not to die. "Just—wait—" Aya zoomed up the stairs. Reese resumed beating the eggs and put them in the pan to cook. In a few minutes, Aya came back down, grabbing Reese by the hand and dragging her up the stairs. Reese yelled "I just wanted food! Is that too much to ask?" before Aya slammed the door shut and started interrogating her.

* * *

**A/N: Pusheen- Why did you make Jeff start calling himself daddy? And now Hunter and Reese are his children? Star- Because he's gone crazy. Pusheen-Well that explains it… although I don't think it was him that went crazy *glances dubiously at Star* I think this lack of reviews thing is seriously messing with her head. Help before she starts taking hostages… (Also: Gabby is not really a vampire. In case anyone was wondering...)**


	17. Chapter 16

**A/N: Pusheen- Carmello, thanks for reviewing. Star-Have a cookie! *throws her a cookie* Pusheen- I wouldn't eat that. Anyway, we can't tell you who L is because they are important to the plot line—Star- What plot line? Pusheen- I resent that.**

* * *

_Febuary 10__th__, 2013_

Reese's P.O.V.

Reese was walking in the empty choir room when she saw Gabby and Kylie's brother making out. They didn't hear her, so she closed the door and walked back out. She weighed the consequences of telling Jeff and decided to, since they had been best friends since freshman year. She had only met Gabby that year, and didn't like her very much. She thought she was kind of annoying and she still thought that Gabby might be a vampire.

She found Jeff in the school lobby, talking to a few of the freshman Warblers. "I need to talk to you," she grabbed his arm and led him over near the big staircase that immediately told you that Dalton was a rich school.

He immediately made a face, but when he saw that she meant business he became serious. Well, as serious as Jeff could be. "What?" he asked.

"Before I tell you what I saw I just want to say don't kill the messenger, and don't let this tear you up," Reese said. Jeff nodded, curious as to what she had to say. "I saw Gabby and Kylie's brother in the music room making out."

"Yeah, I know. She dumped me yesterday," he said, looking like he didn't care at all.

"What?" Reese asked. "_She _dumped _you_?"

"Yeah. Apparently she likes guys with accents," Jeff shrugged. "I'm fine with it. She was getting clingy anyway."

"Well that explains why Aya's hair is bright pink today," Reese muttered. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said. "See you later, Reese." He walked away, leaving her at the staircase. Reese found it hard to believe that Gabby would break up with him. She practically worshipped the ground he walked on. She didn't think about it very long though, she had to get to class.

* * *

_February 13__th__, 2013_

"Not again!" Nick groaned and looked at Hunter for help.

"Just hear me out on this. It would be a good experience and I'll shut up about it. Please?" Jeff asked once again. More uproar from the entire group.

"Well if it means he'll shut up about it…" Hunter said to Reese, who grinned at him.

"Look, when we did this two years ago, it got the guy fired," Thad said. Reese kind of figured that everyone forgot that the Warblers weren't a democracy anymore. They weren't ever really a democracy anyway, more of an oligarchy. But now it was more of a dictatorship ruled by two people. Hunter was the original leader, but he decided that Reese would be a good co-leader and got her to agree to be the co-leader.

"Reese and I have decided that the Warblers will do it, even if she does get fired," Hunter said. What Jeff had purposed them to do was almost unheard of. Almost. They were having another Gap Attack, and this time it was for Aya. That's why she was missing from the meeting today. Reese and the other female Warblers couldn't perform because they were going to go in ahead of time to be scouts.

Reese remembered when Blaine did his. And how embarrassed he was when it was over and he had found out that the guy had gotten fired. The next day, the Warblers had congregated together and vowed that they would never again do another Gap Attack. It was finalized by Wes, who hit his gavel on the table.

"Wait until Wes hears about this," Trent muttered. A few of the other senior Warblers nodded.

"We're doing this to help Jeff, so zip it Dough Boy," Reese snapped. Trent looked a little bit offended, but Reese didn't feel guilty in the least.

Sebastian had been silent ever since the idea (and Blaine's name) had been brought up. Reese thought that he should be included since he was the former leader. "What do you think about this, Sebastian?" Reese asked.

"I don't really care either way," he said, expressionless as ever. Reese thought that that was peculiar. He always had something to say, insulting or no, about everything. She made a mental note about it.

"Then it's final, there will be a Valentine's Day Gap Attack," Hunter said to a majority of the Warbler's dismay.

* * *

_February 14__th__, 2013_

Reese was at the front of the Gap Store, looking around to where Aya was standing at the register reloading the receipt machine. She knew a few of the guys were hiding around the store and a few of the other ones would come in through the front of the store. Kylie had her hair out of her pigtails for once and had her back to Aya while pretending to look at a pair of jeans. Reese was pretending to check out the shirts and looking to make sure Aya didn't leave before the guys started their song.

Jeff walked up to the register with a pair of sunglasses and Aya started to ring up the sunglasses before she realized that it was Jeff. She opened her mouth a little bit to say something, but before she could, however, Jeff signaled for the guys to start.

_Back to the street where we began_

_Feeling as good as lovers can, you know_

_Yeah, we're feeling so good_

Aya's eyes widened when she realized what was happening. Reese grinned and Kylie looked like she was fighting the urge to laugh.

_Picking up things we shouldn't read_

_It looks like the end of history as we know_

_It's just the end of the world_

Jeff jumped over the counter and led Aya around it into the group of _very _attractive singing boys. Aya looked rapidly around for an escape route. She saw Reese instead. _Hi_, Reese mouthed and waved. Aya moved a finger across her throat saying that she was dead later.

Reese got out of there as fast as she could.

Reese wandered back to the Gap later, and immediately patted herself on the back for walking in on a very awkward situation.

"You got me fired!" Aya said. _As to be expected,_ Reese thought. Jeff was holding his cheek and Aya looked furious. But then she went totally bipolar and kissed him. Like full on kissed him in the middle of the mall. "But I hated that job, so thanks."

"Well then why did you slap me?" Jeff asked.

"Because the law needed to be laid down first," she said simply. Reese rolled her eyes and was about to slip out unnoticed, but Aya saw her first. "And _you_!" she stomped over to Reese. "Never do that _ever _again," she stared Reese down until she nodded fearfully, and then once she did Aya gave her a hug and said, "Thank you."

Reese didn't really know how to reply to that, so she nodded instead.

* * *

Reese met the rest of the Warblers in the Lima Bean, or at least the rest of the seniors. She sat down next to Hunter, who already had a coffee sitting there waiting for her. "Thanks," she said and took a sip and immediately recoiled. "What is in this?"

"Nothing. Just coffee," he replied.

"It's disgusting. Do you drink your coffee black?" she asked.

"Yes," he said. Reese rolled her eyes and reached for some cream and some Splenda. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Putting some cream and some sweetener in my coffee, why?"

"Don't you know Splenda tastes like pencils? Sweet N' Low is so much better," he said. Reese smirked and took the lid off of her coffee. Then she ripped open the Splenda packet and Hunter winced. When she poured the Splenda in his face was priceless.

"Are you two done? I want to know what happened!" Kylie said, and Trent nodded his head enthusiastically. She was seated in between Sebastian and Thad on the other side of the table.

"Aya did get fired, and Jeff got slapped. So I'd call it a mission accomplished," Reese said. Kylie looked like someone had stolen her Christmas presents. "I only call it that because after she slapped him she kissed him." Kylie's Christmas presents were back.

"So they're dating now?" Kylie asked, leaning forward, interested.

"I don't know. Aya yelled at me too and I left. I didn't even stay for the entire Gap Attack, Aya looked like my life was on the line the moment she saw me," Reese leaned back in her chair.

"They're dating now," Kylie leaned back and looked at Trent who confirmed it with a head nod. She tossed her hair over her shoulder triumphantly. "Now Aya won't be in such a bad mood all the time and I can get some sleep."

Reese rolled her eyes at that, but didn't correct her.

* * *

**A/N: Pusheen- So how was the chapter? Star- Yeah, are you going to review ****_now? _****Pusheen- GO BACK IN THE ATTIC! Star- NO! *sticks tongue out* Pusheen- *Throws food into the attic* Fetch! Star- *Runs after food* Pusheen- *locks the attic shut again* Thanks for reading! How about a review? **


	18. Chapter 17

**A/N: Pusheen- One whole chapter of Huntcylia fluff drabbles. You're welcome. Star- Tough to write. Even if Huntcylia is my OTP. These stupid kiss scenes are seriously getting me down. Pusheen- Go eat one of those cookies you love passing around so much. You don't have a chapter to write right now, so go! Star- Fine. *retreats into attic and turns on her easy bake oven*Pusheen- We didn't put dates on these because they really happen anywhere in between Valentine's Day and the date of the next chapter. Star was writing this while her internet was down so she couldn't check the timeline we keep online. Happy Reading!**

* * *

"So you can play every string instrument and a piano? Jeez, Reese," Hunter looked at her from the door way. She was practicing her violin in her room, waiting on the pizza she had in the oven to finish cooking. She had no idea Hunter was home, and stopped playing abruptly when he had walked in.

"Not every string instrument. I can't play the guitar," she said, putting her bow down on her bed.

Hunter looked amused. "Well now, that's kind of funny because that's the one I can play," he said. "Do you want to learn?"

Reese nodded and he took her to the kitchen. She sat down on a stool and he went downstairs to retrieve his guitar. A few minutes later, he was on a stool behind her with his arms around her, teaching her how to hit an A note by guiding her fingers. She winced when the note was foul. "You'll get it, don't worry," he said encouragingly.

"Right," she muttered and hit a foul note again. Of course she wasn't as irritated as her outside appearance suggested, she liked the feeling of Hunter's arms around her and she'd sit there all day if she could. But she'd never tell Hunter that, he'd quite literally hold it over her head. The pizza bell rang and she slid out of his arms and went to retrieve the long-awaited food.

"One slice or two?" she asked him.

* * *

"Go. Away. I'm sleeping," Reese said venomously and rolled over. She wasn't wearing her glasses or her contacts, so she couldn't see whoever it was, but she knew she wanted them to jump off of a cliff right about then.

"I have food…" the person said, and Reese sat straight up. She reached for her glasses and put them on. She saw a shirtless Hunter with food and he was wearing glasses too.

"You wear glasses?" Reese asked.

"Yeah," he said and put the tray on her lap.

"You look like a hotter Clark Kent. And you aren't wearing a shirt, so bonus points to you," Reese said, and picked up a piece of bacon. "And you brought me bacon. You have no idea how happy this makes me."

"Good, because you're going to hate what I have to tell you," he said. Reese nodded and ate another piece of bacon, doubting whatever it was could possibly rain on this parade.

"We have practice for the musical in one hour," he said.

Reese jumped out of her bed, throwing the contents of the tray onto Hunter. "I have to get ready!" she yelled and holed herself in the bathroom. Hunter sighed and started picking up the mess she made with her breakfast.

* * *

Reese and Hunter were playing L4D2 on the couch, completely focused on the campaign that they were playing. Not speaking until a hunter pounced on top of Reese's character, Ellis. Rochelle and Coach ended up killing it for her, while Hunter was being useless as Nick and killing a few infected.

"Why didn't you help?" Reese demanded.

"I was a little bit busy myself, you know," Hunter said.

"He's your kind, you probably could've used some sort of voodoo magic and gotten it to back down!" Reese said.

Hunter looked at her and replied, "Just because we have the same name doesn't mean I can control it."

"Yes you can," Reese said and shot his character.

"No I can't," Hunter said and shot Reese's character right back. That continued to happen until both of them were dead and they were on the floor laughing.

"Recylia," Hunter said. Reese turned her head to look at him, still laughing. "I love you."

Reese stopped laughing, got up, and left the room. Hunter wondered what he had done wrong and followed her.

"Reese?" he asked. She had locked the door to her room.

"You shouldn't have said that," she said through the door.

"Why?" Hunter asked. He had a good idea of why, but he wanted to know for sure.

She hesitated a bit, but said, "Everyone who's said that they loved me is either dead or hurt me."

"What about your brother?" Hunter asked.

"He's done his share of hurting me. He sent me away didn't he?" she said. Hunter looked away, trying to think of someone who could possibly—he had it.

"Your stepparents. They obviously love you, and they haven't hurt you have they?" he said. He heard Reese take a deep breath on the other side of the door, but it opened, just a little bit. "And I know that I won't hurt you."

The door opened wider, and Reese stepped through the doorway to hug him, "Minä rakastan sinua."

"What?" Hunter asked.

"It's Finnish for 'thank you'" Reese said

"I think that English would've sufficed, but you're welcome nevertheless," Hunter said.

* * *

_March 15, 2013_

Hunter had Reese's birthday present planned. His had been almost three weeks before and Reese had made him dinner, and that girl could _cook_. So he decided he'd sing her something while playing his guitar. Everyone else in the dorm were preparing the surprise party they had thrown her in the warehouse, but Hunter had stayed back to give her present to her early.

"What are you doing?" Reese had come up the stairs when he called for her.

"Happy birthday, Reese. Sit," he said. She did, and Hunter started playing her favorite song, Sweater Weather by The Neighbourhood **(Pointless Disclaimer: Star- NOT MINE. STOP RUBBING IT IN MY FACE. Pusheen- Just go eat a cookie. Reese- How'd this get here?)**

"Oh, I know what you're doing," Reese said, and leaned back with her arms crossed.

_All I am is a man_

_I want the world in my hands_

_I hate the beach_

_But I stand in California_

_With my toes in the sand_

_Use the sleeves of my sweater_

_Let's have an adventure_

_Head in the clouds but my gravity's centered_

_Touch my neck and I'll touch yours_

_You in those little high waisted shorts, oh_

_She knows what I think about_

_And what I think about_

_One love, two mouths_

_One love, one house_

_No shirt, no blouse_

_Just us, you find out_

_Nothing that wouldn't want to tell you about no_

_'Cause it's too cold_

_For you here and now_

_So let me hold _

_Both your hands in the holes of my sweater_

_And if I may just take your breath away_

_I don't mind if there's not much to say_

_Sometimes the silence guides our minds to _

_So move to a place so far away_

_The goose bumps start to raise_

_The minute that my left hand meets your waist_

_And then I watch your face_

_Put my finger on your tongue _

_'Cause you love the taste yeah_

_These hearts adire_

_Everyone the other beats' heart is for_

_Inside this place is war,_

_Outside it starts to pour_

_Coming down_

_One love, two mouths_

_One love, one house_

_No shirt, no blouse_

_Just us, you find out_

_Nothing that I wouldn't tell you about, no no no_

_'Cause it's too cold_

_For you here and now_

_So let me hold_

_Both your hands in the holes of my sweater_

_'Cause it's too cold_

_For you here and now_

_So let me hold_

_Both your hands in the holes of my sweater_

_Whoa, whoa…_

There was a guitar solo here, and Reese, despite loving the song, thought it was over. Hunter took the opportunity to lean in for a kiss and trick her, but pulled away when the lyrics started up again. She looked a little miffed, but Hunter knew that it wasn't anything she couldn't handle. "Tease," she muttered. Hunter grinned at her.

_'Cause it's too cold_

_For you here and now_

_SO let me hold_

_Both your hands in the holes of my sweater_

_It's too cold_

_For you here and now_

_Let me hold_

_Both your hands in the holes of my sweater_

_It's too cold_

_For you here and now_

_Let me hold_

_Both your hands in the holes of my sweater_

_It's too cold_

_It's too cold_

_The holes of my sweater…_

"I believe you owe me a kiss," Reese said when she was finished.

"Well, I don't think a little debt would kill me," Hunter turned to put his guitar on the stand behind him. Reese stood up.

"Debt might not, but I might," she said, standing in front of him with her arms crossed.

"Fine then," Hunter leaned down and kissed her forehead. Reese gave him a look that spoke of death. Hunter walked down the stairs and out the front door, an angry Reese in tow.

"Where are you going now?" Reese asked.

"The warehouse," he said, and jumped in his SUV. Reese got in the other side, swinging herself up. It had gotten easier for her to get in after a lot of practice.

"Wait a second," she said.

"What?" Hunter turned his head over to where she was looking. She turned her head too fast and managed to catch his lips before he could pull away. She put her arms around his neck to keep him there, clearly winning this war. Hunter made a mental note not to be tricked again and then thought that being tricked wasn't that bad every once and awhile.

* * *

**A/N: Pusheen- Okay, fine. The last two weren't necessarily drabbles. They were more like scenes. But it needed to go somewhere, and I don't think anyone is complaining. Like I said, no internet connection means no checking the timeline—Star- It also means no updating! Eat it you people who just won't review no matter how many contests I put up *pouts* Pusheen- *sigh***


	19. Chapter 18

_March 29, 2013_

Reese, Sebastian, Jeff, and Hunter (because Reese made him) were in the NYADA office listening to an administrator drone on and on about registration information and such. Reese just wanted to wander around to see if she could have a chance encounter with Rachel and/or Kurt.

"Here are passes so you can look around. I hope to see you next year," the administrator said with a smile that just screamed whitening strips.

"Thank you," Reese accepted hers and clipped it on the hem of her shirt. Sebastian looked like he wanted to say something, but he just clipped the badge on and stood up. He'd been acting strange lately, especially around her. Why was that? He wasn't his usual snarky self, and anytime Jeff attempted to provoke him he just shrugged it off. Hunter noticed it too, and asked her about it, but she had no idea.

They left the office and split up. Sebastian went with Jeff and Hunter came with Reese. Kylie and Aya were just juniors and Gabby was moving after senior year was over. They were in New York for Nationals, and Reese wanted to drop by NYADA to check it out. She had yet to have her auditions, but she also had yet to convince Hunter to come too. "Applications aren't due until next month, you can still come," Reese said, turning to Hunter in the hallway.

"Not this again," Hunter sighed.

"I am persistent if nothing else," Reese said, grinning. A few students gave them suspicious glances in the hallway, but continued on their way. She really thought that she'd like this place. New York was amazing, period, and the fact that she might live there soon thrilled her.

"Reese, I have something else in mind," he said, looking down at her.

"Like what?" she asked, looking right back at him, wishing she was taller so she wouldn't have to bend her neck so far back to look at him.

"Like enlisting in the military," he said.

Reese's mouth opened a little bit in shock she had to say. The goofy show choir leader... In the military. It just didn't compute. "Huh?"

"I want to be in the military. I went to a military school before I transferred to Dalton, remember?" Hunter said.

Reese nodded mechanically, not sure about this decision. It was what he wanted to do, but then again it was dangerous, and she didn't want to lose anyone else (as selfish as it was). "If it's me getting hurt you're worried about, I can handle myself."

"Just don't find some better-looking, military chick, alright?" Reese asked.

Hunter looked relieved, like he thought that she would put up more of a fight. "Honestly, I could get shot and that's all you worry about?"

"Well, no, but it's near the top of my list," Reese said. Hunter smiled at her and she wasn't worried at all anymore. She knew that Hunter thought she hung the moon and the stars, and she really knew when he smiled at her like that.

"I don't really think any girl could make me give you up," Hunter said.

Reese smiled and said, "I'd sure hope not."

* * *

_April 1__st__, 2013_

"And the winners of the 2013 Show Choir National Competition are…" the announcer said, opening the envelope so slowly Reese wanted to run up and rip it out of the announcers hands and tear it open like a Christmas present, "The Dalton Academy Warblers!"

The stage was chaos. The confetti, balloons, the huge trophy, and all the commotion of The Warblers hugging and congratulating each other; everything was drowned out by the applauding crowd. Once the curtains closed, the party moved to the dressing room.

Hunter kissed Reese and twirled her around, "Can you believe it? We won!"

"Been there, done that," Reese said. She had won Nationals last year with McKinley, and this win was nothing special.

"Can't you just be a little happy for us?" Hunter asked, frowning a bit.

"Sure," Reese said with mock enthusiasm. "Come here."

Hunter bent down to her height and she pressed her lips to his. His hands moved from her shoulders to her waist and brought her closer to him. Someone cleared their throat.

"What?" Reese snapped, breaking the kiss to turn her head in the voice's direction.

"We're going to go get food, if you're interested," a voice she recognized as Jeff said, "Or you know, you can just stay here and eat each other. You seemed quite content with that a second ago…" Reese reached down to the vanity next to her, picked up a hairbrush, and threw it at him. "Fine, no cannibalism today. We'll be at the restaurant a block down. Feel free to continue whatever it was you were doing."

"It's not anywhere near that time you were making out with Gabby in the woods," Reese said. "Now _that _was cannibalism."

"I resent that," Jeff said, grinning, and walked out the door to meet Aya.

Reese turned her head back toward Hunter, "Now where were we?"

* * *

_March 2__nd__, 2013_

Reese was staring at the note on her pillow. How had L gotten into her room? They were still in New York and were leaving tomorrow. Reese didn't even read it and stomped across the hall to Hunter's room. After one knock, he was at the door looking right over her head. Probably expected Jeff to show up or something.

"Expecting someone?" Reese asked.

Hunter looked down, and the dismissive expression was gone. "No, come in." He stepped away from the door and Reese walked in and sat in one of the chairs.

"So I found this on my pillow," Reese held up the note for him to see.

"Have you read it yet?" he asked, concern practically tattooed on his forehead.

"No, I came over here first," she said, realizing just how much she trusted Hunter now. She had totally bypassed the possibility of him being L and had let her guard down. She frowned. But he wouldn't do that. Plus the notes warned her to stay away from him, he wouldn't have written that.

"Good, can I see it?" Hunter asked, hand out for the note.

"Yeah, here," she held the note out to him. They had gotten creepier and creepier; telling her what to do, that _he w_as watching, that she should be scared. She still wasn't quite over the possibility of it being a prank, but as time went on she started doubting herself. What if there really was someone stalking her?

Hunter handed her the note back, his face unreadable. She read it,

_Reese-_

_It'd be a shame if something happened to that boy of yours. I warned you something would happen._

_-L_

She ripped it up into little pieces and threw it into the wastebasket. She was _tired _of L and his orders and his threats. "I honestly thought that I've had enough happen in my life that I was scotch free for the rest of my life. And things were going pretty well until Blaine went to McKinley," Reese said angrily. She knew she was putting the blame on him, but at this point she really didn't care. "If he hadn't have met Kurt this never would've happened. I wouldn't be having these notes and I wouldn't be so scared."

"So you've accepted that this isn't a prank?" Hunter asked slowly.

Reese looked at him from her chair, "I swear if you say _anything _to your mom about this…"

The words were left unsaid, but they both knew she wouldn't do anything. "I promised I'd keep your secrets if you'd keep mine, and as far as I know you haven't told anybody. My mouth is closed," Reese looked up at him as he said this. "But that doesn't mean I won't try to figure out who this is. I've been dragged into this now, and it's my business too."

"Of course," Reese understood. It'd be the exact same way if the situation was switched around.

"I want you safe, Recylia. I'll do anything to make sure you stay that way," Hunter said. He was sitting on the edge of the bed across from her, staring at her intently.

The stared at each other for a minute. "You don't have to do that, you know," Reese looked away.

"Do what?" Hunter asked.

"Be that protective. You've seen what I can do in fight club, and you've seen how fast my reflexes are. I can take care of myself," Reese said.

"But what if you can't. What if you're in a situation that puts you in danger, and there's nothing you can do to stop whatever it is that's threatening your well-being," Hunter asked.

"Well that's the exact same chance I'm taking with you isn't it? You're going into the military, plenty of chances for you to be in that situation," Reese said stubbornly.

"That's not fair, you're a—"

"Hunter William Clarington, don't even finish that sentence," Reese said, shooting up from her chair.

"It's true,"

"Just because I'm a girl does not mean I'm helpless. I have gone to great lengths to make sure I am not, and I also refuse to be so. Just in case my past catches up to me," Reese said, her face going dark. "And I refused to be called so, see you in the morning."

She walked to the door to leave, but Hunter stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "I didn't mean it that way, Reese," he said, immediately wishing that he had just agreed with her and forgotten the subject.

"I know, see you in the morning," Reese said.

"What why?" Hunter asked. He wanted to sleep until noon.

"You're taking me to breakfast," she smiled at him over her shoulder mischievously. "Night."

"Night," Hunter replied. When had he agreed to take her to breakfast again? Oh, well.

* * *

_March 3rd, 2013_

"Morning," Reese said cheerfully. She had her hair pulled back as usual, and was wearing her blazer over a vintage t-shirt and a pair of jeans.

"Go back to sleep," Hunter replied, rolling over so his face was in his pillow.

"No, you promised me breakfast, remember," Reese said.

"No," Hunter said.

"Liar, get up," Reese tugged at his arm. Hunter rolled his eyes and pulled his covers over his head.

"I'll go get Jeff to wake you up…" Reese said. Hunter shot up like a weed at that. There was no telling what Jeff would do. "Thought so."

Hunter groaned and put his glasses on, "Get out so I can change. And don't expect me to be in a good mood."

"Okay. See you in five minutes!" Reese bounced out the door. Hunter grabbed a Red Bull, it was going to be a long breakfast.

"So where are we going?" Reese asked. Hunter still felt like a monkey, but Reese was acting like a squirrel on coffee and it helped to wake him up.

"I have no idea," he said groggily.

"Oh, come on! It's our last day in New York, we have to do something awesome that might or might not get us arrested," Reese said. Hunter was awake, and looked at her in alarm, "I'm kidding, are you awake now?"

"Yes,"

"Good," Reese said, and dragged him by the hand over to some small café.

* * *

**A/N: Sooooo sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeepy. Sorry if it's crap. I just had to get Nationals out of the way. It's unimportant to the plot. What? There's a plot? HOLY CRAP BATMAN! I'm sorry. Pusheen will hate me for that comment... Okay so go on my author's page and check out The Phantom of-Dalton? it's the school musical that was mentioned earlier... JECYLIA AND HUNTCYLIA fluff... so beautiful... I'm sleepy, night and see you next time when I'm not almost comatose...**

**OH YEAH... Review?**


	20. Chapter 19

**A/N: Some people may have noticed the change in the rating. THERE WILL BE NO LEMONS... just crap tons of gore. LOADS of it in future chapters :D So I hope you stick with it even if you aren't a fan of gore, because you might just like it. I finally got around to fixing the bobby pin mistake in this chapter, for those of you that noticed it before I fixed it :D.**

* * *

"Wake up, my lovelies!" Kylie hollered. Reese lifted her head from her pile of pillows to look at Kylie. She had a hand on her hip and was holding a clipboard, around her waist she had a hot pink tool belt with a hairdryer, a curling iron, a straightening iron, hair product, makeup brushes, and bobby pins. Tons of bobby pins. Reese shivered and tried to escape, but she was tangled in her sheets. "Reese, it's senior prom so I'm going to style the horse poopie out of your hair."

"Horse, poopie?" Aya asked, her mouth slightly open.

"What are you? Five?" Reese asked.

"Well what do y'all want me to say?" Kylie asked, exasperated. Then she saw the evil grins on Reese's and Aya's faces and said, "Never mind."

"Where's your Disney prince look-alike assistant?" Aya asked, looking around. "You two are practically attached at the hip, I thought he'd be here."

"He has other Disney princes to take care of," Kylie said, writing something on her clip board. "The guys are at Nick, Thad, Trent, and David's dorm right now. And don't even think about escaping because I locked the doors from the outside and all the windows are sealed shut."

Reese looked fearfully at Aya and Aya did the same. "So you mean we're trapped in here? We have to _make_ our own coffee?" Reese asked, reaching over to grab her "horse poopie" phone. Kylie snatched it and threw it out the open window onto the street. 2 minutes later, a car ran over it.

"You owe me a phone," Reese said. Kylie rolled her eyes and handed her a hundred bucks. _Rich people_, Reese thought.

"Now go shower," Kylie said, pointing toward the door. Reese rolled her eyes and got up to go shower.

_5 minutes later…_

Reese opened the shower curtain to see Kylie standing in front of the sink with an open towel. "What are you doing here!?" She pulled the curtain in front of herself.

"Bringing you a towel," she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Yeah—but—this is not okay! I'm _naked_!" Reese screeched.

"Would you prefer for me to go get Hunter?" Kylie asked with a completely straight face.

"_No_!"

"Then get back in the shower. No one gets clean in five minutes. I can see the grease from here," Kylie said.

Reese looked at her in complete shock, "It's because my hair is wet, Kylie."

"No, now get back in," Kylie demanded.

Reese knew there was no point in trying to get Kylie to let her go, because when Kylie dropped the sweet Southern girl act, she meant business. And there was no use talking to her. "Fine," Reese said, defeated.

_Ten minutes and another argument later…_

"There, happy? I'm showered, now can I have food?" Reese asked, holding a towel around her.

"No and no. Now go sit at my vanity, and would you kindly plug in the blow dryer?" Kylie asked with a mocking smile. Reese shot her a dirty look for bringing video game references into this.

After Reese plugged in the hair dryer, and tapped her foot impatiently until Kylie returned with, guess what, even more hair product. It was like she was best friends with Blaine or something.

"Okay so, what I'm going to do is put some of this oil—" a dramatic gesture to a bronze squirt bottle "—and then put this serum—" dramatic gesture to a purple bottle "—and then I'm going to blow dry it. Then, hopefully, your hair will cooperate enough to straighten it," Kylie said.

Reese looked unenthusiastically at the mirror. Couldn't she at least change into some clothes first? "Joy," Reese said, and Kylie got to work.

_Three hours later…_

Reese's stomach growled when Kylie said, "Finished!"

"FOOD!" Reese jumped up and ran to the kitchen before Kylie could stop her, and barely remembered to keep the towel around her too. She threw open a cabinet door, grabbed a plate, and just started throwing things on it from the fridge with one arm.

She could practically hear Kylie yelling for Aya to report to the sink so she could dye her hair. Aya was told to exfoliate and moisturize her face, and bleach her teeth while she was waiting on Kylie to finish with Reese's hair. Reese was going to have nightmares about straightening irons that night, she knew it.

Reese shoved food in her mouth, not sure when Kylie would allow her to have a food break again. The Southern girl scared her almost more than Sebastian did when he was in one of his moods.

Reese walked around on the ground level, trying to prolong the time until she had to go upstairs and face the wrath of the straightener again. Her hair already had enough hairspray in it to put another hole in the ozone.

In ten minutes, Aya ran down with a turban made out of a towel as a head ornament. "Go. Now. Before she dyes my hair blonde," Aya said. Reese was just assuming that Aya and Kylie had a difference of opinion, but didn't question it. Aya would not be happy about being a blonde, and Reese knew it would be a very bad idea if she did anything she didn't want to do.

"We're out of bacon, just by the way. I was starving," Reese said apologetically and ran up the stairs, nearly dropping her towel a few times.

_8 hours later…_

Reese felt like a Barbie doll. Her face felt as if it was made out of plastic, and her waist was record breaking skinny. She thought she was done with corsets when they did Phantom, but if Kylie had anything to do with it Reese would wear one 24/7. She could barely breathe, and was highly considering finding Aya and letting her loosen it for her in the bathroom.

Currently, she was trying not to slip down Dalton's grand staircase. Reese stayed back so she could attempt to adjust the stupid corset, but had no results. The shoes Kylie picked for her weren't terrible. A pair of knee high, black suede, high heeled boots. The heel wasn't even bad, so Reese had to wonder what Kylie was up to.

The metal, laser-cut, black mask she was wearing didn't help very much either. Nor did the skirt on her dress, the thing was poofy and uncomfortable and made it impossible to navigate steps in. But Reese tried. In all honesty, Reese had to admit the monkey suit made her look pretty. It was strapless (which also contributed to her being annoyed) and made her look like she wasn't flat chested (it's a Kylie miracle). The skirt belled out, but not in an unflattering way, and not very far. It also wasn't very ornate, and not at all revealing, which Reese profusely thanked Gabby's mom for. Gabby had taken them all to Gabby's mom's dress shop to get their dresses, and they still weren't sure why. None of them really liked her all that much.

When Reese finally made it to the bottom of the stairs, she could hear Prom going on out the French doors. Everyone was already there (Reese was late) and she hurried over to the now closed doors. It had since gotten easier to walk around because she wasn't on the stairs anymore.

Reese cracked open a door and peeked outside. She didn't want to run into Kylie and Aya because she's never hear the end of being late to her senior prom. But then again, Hunter might never let hear the end of it either. She was his date, after all. She saw tons of dancing people she didn't know very well and a DJ on the stage. Reese didn't see any teachers and just thought that they would let the rich kids have the entire school to themselves. _Idiots_, Reese thought, and snuck in through the door.

They had prom outside this year, and Reese thought they did an excellent job. Paper lanterns were suspended above the entire area, allowing people to see the stars and their dates. In some cases, the stars were prettier than the people's dates. Christmas lights (A/N: for lack of better term) lined the punch and hors d'oeuvres table. Other than that, it was very simple and to Reese's liking.

Reese weaved through people in search of _someone _she knew. Anyone. Who she didn't expect to see was Blaine. "What are you doing here?" Reese demanded, once she realized who it was.

"Long story," Blaine looked over her shoulder. "Oh, look. Someone wants to talk to me." He hustled away, and Reese tried to follow him, but she lost him in the crowd. How _in the world _did he get invited?

She didn't have very much time to think about it anymore because she got knocked into one of the guests. "I'm sorry," Reese said, fixing the obnoxious skirt.

"No need to apologize," a strange voice said behind a solid black mask.

"Do I know you?"

"You'll be mine eventually, Reese. Just you wait," The strange boy said and disappeared into the crowd, leaving Reese standing there shocked. Could that have been L? Reese tried to follow him like she had Blaine, but couldn't spot the same person. She didn't even pay attention to what he even looked like.

Reese stood there, wishing now more than ever that Hunter was with her. If she was alone she was susceptible to being taken, and she was terrified to think what would happen to her if that did happen. Suddenly, memories came flooding back of her so-called "family". The shrill sound of her mother's screaming, her brother's screams, her screams, and her father's laughter. He _enjoyed _what he did to them. She remembered all the things he called them, the unspeakable things he called her mother. The things he called her—

"Reese?" Hunter asked. She subconsciously felt his arm on her shoulder as the memories got locked up in the recesses of her mind where she kept them.

* * *

Hunter's P.O.V.

She smiled at him, "There you are."

The first thing that came to mind when he saw her was how beautiful she was, but the first thing that came out of his mouth was "Hey, Reese! You're finally at a normal height!" Reese was eye level with his neck probably because of shoes, and that was the first thing he said. _You're an idiot, Hunter Clarington, congratulations, _he thought.

She looked up at him. "Excuse me?" She asked with an amount of sass that would put Sebastian to shame. Her lips had a thin layer of gloss on them, and her lips were parted slightly, just begging to be kissed. He leaned down (not as far as usual) and kissed the corner of her mouth. She slid her lips over a little bit to meet his directly, and pulled away when they heard a familiar muffled wail.

Reese pulled away to see Aya in her red skin tight dress **(Random thought from Jeff on topic: I DIDN'T KNOW AYA WAS THIS HOT OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG Star-Well, Jeff I'm so glad your vocabulary improved *eye roll*) **with her head buried in Jeff's shoulder, fangirling her little heart out. Oh, Lord, Hunter was starting to pick up Southern slang from Kylie. That was bad. Very, very, very bad.

"There she goes again," Reese laughed and grabbed Hunter's hand to pull him over to the edge of the crowd. Hunter just couldn't get over how beautiful his girlfriend was. He couldn't get over the fact that Reese even was his girlfriend in the first place. A few months ago, that would've seemed unattainable, but now he felt like he could get to the moon. Reese just had that affect on him.

Reese put her arms around his neck and he automatically put his on her now-reachable waist and they started slow dancing to whatever song was playing. "Was today Prom boot camp for you too?" Reese asked.

Hunter wordlessly nodded. Sebastian had made them all take hour showers each; and got their hair to cooperate (even Jeff's) with some product, probably to only brag about his triumph to Blaine, who was his date tonight. Hunter didn't know if Reese knew that Blaine was even here, but he didn't want to be the one to tell her so.

"You would not believe it, Kylie threw my phone out of a window," Reese said.

"Wait, something's missing," Hunter said and lifted Reese's mask up. No freckles decorating her face, so that meant Kylie probably covered them up with concealer. Hunter took the palm of his right hand and rubbed the makeup off of her cheeks and her nose, revealing the freckles. "There, now everything's in place." He put her mask back down.

"I didn't realize you liked my freckles," Reese said, not looking at him. Hunter didn't need to see her ears to know that she was embarrassed.

"They're part of what makes you, you Reese. And I love _you_," Hunter said.

Reese looked at him, "You know what, Hunter. I think I love you too."

* * *

_2 hours later…_

Reese's P.O.V.

Reese couldn't believe she had said what she did. But it felt good to finally say it. And as she said it she was more than certain that it would always be true. She had been having so much fun that night…

…Until Prom Queen and King were announced.

Reese felt stupid. She couldn't have cared less about Prom King and Queen until Hunter was elected King. He looked at her uneasily and made his way toward the stage, and Reese's heart sank. _You're being an idiot Reese. You know he loves you_, she thought to herself. She found Aya in the crowd, and Aya gave her an enraged look. They crowned Hunter King.

You could practically hear all of the dreams get crushed by the girls' fellow students when they called the queen: Veronica Sanders. Reese knew all about Veronica, also known as the famous ex-girlfriend. _Stop it, Reese. You have nothing to be jealous about. You know how he feels and he knows how you feel. Stop being stupid—_Reese suddenly realized how Hunter felt when Griff came or when any guy came within his sight when he was with her. This was jealousy. And it was ugly.

Reese felt a presence behind her. "You'll always be my queen," the same voice from earlier whispered. She shivered and turned around, but missed whoever it was—L—entirely.

Reese decided that she needed a break. So she went to the bathroom, and that was her first mistake.

* * *

Reese was washing her hands at the sink when a cool cloth that smelled like peppermint covered her mouth. Reese's eyes flicked up, but she couldn't see whoever it was that was attacking her. Her head hit the sink first.

* * *

The Rare and Elusive Aya's P.O.V (Probably will never happen again)

Aya was worried about Reese. She saw her leave the gym when the Queen was announced, and wasn't very far behind her when she heard a loud _thump _from the bathroom. Aya looked around the corner toward the girls' bathroom and saw a guy about their age carrying an unconscious Reese out of the restroom. Wait, was that Griff?

Aya turned the corner and caught his attention, "What are you doing here. You're supposed to be in London."

He squinted at her. "And you're supposed to be outside. Oh, well," he set Reese down gently on the floor. "I guess I'll have to take care of this problem too."

"What?" Aya asked, but before she could realize what he was doing he crossed the space between them and hit her head against the wall.

* * *

Reese's eyes slit open a bit. There was an intense pain in her head and there was an exposed light bulb lighting up a small portion of a small room. Reese was in a chair, and her hands were bound to the legs of the chair, and her feet were tied to the floor. She looked down and saw that she's out of her prom dress and in a small navy blue dress with a white ribbon and a white collar. She was barefoot, but wearing a pair of white tights. A door slit open a little so she could see a sliver of light peeping through the crack.

"So you're awake," a familiar voice said. Reese's eyes opened wider to see Griff standing in the doorway. She remembered going to the bathroom and washing her hands, but not much else after that.

"So you're the famous L, Griff. Congratulations on finally growing a spine," Reese said sarcastically.

She felt warm breath on the back of her neck, "No, Reesey Cup, _I'm _L."

Reese froze instantly. She knew that voice from every single one of her nightmares that she was starting to forget. _That voice _belonged to her living nightmare. _That voice _was the one of the monster she called father.

* * *

**A/N: So now everyone can SHUT UP about L. No matter how much joy it brings me to see you people suffer for not giving me reviews (unless you did... BIG thank you to A Fearless Knight's Fairytale for the review and follow! Have a cyber cookie!) And Reesey Cup is pronounced like the candy don't kill me because it's spelled like that IT'S ALL PUSHEEN'S FAULT I SWEAR. See you whenever I update! Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee ~Star and Pusheen **


	21. Chapter 20

**A/N: We changed the rating back to T. If anyone thinks it requires M just notify me and I'll change it again. Thanks again to A Fearless Knight's Fairytale for reviewing! We love you! **

Hunter's shoulders were killing him. It was originally what caused him to wake up to the situation he was in.

The whole reason his shoulders were hurting so much is because they were shackled to a wall. He had no idea how he had gotten here, he just remembered getting knocked out after going after Reese at prom. He and Aya had split up to try and find her, and after Hunter got to an empty classroom the memory ended. And now he was here.

"Hello?" He shouted. There was a shuffling below him, meaning he was in a multi-level building, which would help him find a means of escape.

"So you're awake," an all too familiar voice said. Griff was standing in the doorway with his arms crossed, staring him down. Well good luck with that Griff, he thought, I'm already on the floor. "I just really wish Boss would've let me kill you while you were asleep."

Hunter didn't say anything, he just glared at him. Like Griff would actually try to kill him, he was all bark and no bite.

"Not talking? Okay, well then I guess I'll go get Boss to come 'talk' to you," Griff laughed, or more like cackled, and left Hunter wondering who exactly his Boss was.

A few minutes later, a middle aged man came in with Griff trailing him. "So I finally get to meet my daughter's boyfriend," the man said, smiling at him. Except it wasn't a happy smile, no, it was a warped smile that made him look psychotic. So this was Reese's father.

"Yeah, not exactly how I was hoping to 'meet the parents,'l Hunter said, looking him right in the eyes. He wasn't afraid of this man, he just hated him even if this was the first time he had even met him.

"Sarcasm won't get you very far, son," her father said, putting his hands in his pockets. "So this is how things are going to work while you're in my care: you're going to listen to me, and you're going to like it."

"I'm not your son," Hunter said venomously.

"Not by blood. But in order to have my family together, I need my son. And he's dead, so you're going to take his place," her father said.

"So this is all some sick family obsession isn't it?" Hunter asked. "You think that if you get replacements for your family that'll make Reese love you, well you know what, Mr. Lester? She hates you, and that'll never change."

Mr. Lester looked outraged for a second and then he looked at Griff, "I think it's high time he learned how to respect his father." Griff looked like he would object, but then remembered who he was talking to and left. "I guess you never really put together that we have Reesey Cup too."

"She's safe at school," Hunter said, hoping he was lying.

Mr. Lester grinned and reached over, turning a small device on. A grainy version of Reese's voice came out of it, "Please, Griff just let me go. You know what he'll do to me if I stay here, let me out!"

"Anything you do to anger me goes out on her, and you've done plenty of that. I'll see you when the law has been laid down, son," he said, and left, leaving the radio on.

"I'm sorry, Reese, but he promised me I could have you if I helped him," Griff said, his voice soft.

"I'm not something that can be owned, Griff, I'm a human being," Reese said. "_Please_, just let me go." Her voice cracked. Hunter wished he could be with her right now, but the chains wouldn't budge.

Over the radio, a door opened and closed. Reese cursed. "Reesey Cup, you shouldn't be using that kind of language. I think it's time for a time out," her father sounded disappointed, but it was hard to tell over the bad reception the radio offered. They must've put her in the basement.

"Oh, God no, _please Daddy, please_. Anything but that," Reese whimpered. Hunter's heart broke, she must've really been terrified because she would've_ never_ called him daddy.

"Griff?" Her dad asked.

"Yes Boss," Griff sounded torn. There was a scream and a thump.

"Wait until she's halfway awake then come and get me, I'm going to remove that garbage off of her body," her father said. Hunter wondered what he meant, until he realized he meant her tattoos.

He was going to wait until she was half awake, and remove her tattoos. Hunter felt sick.

* * *

He had no idea how long it was, but based on a little bit of light filtering through the window in the attic it must have been mid-morning, before the screams started up.

He heard them coming from the radio and from however many floors she was below him. They must've started up whatever they were doing to remove her tattoos. Hunter wished he could've plugged his ears, but his hands were tied up behind him.

What made it worse was that this was his fault.

If he hadn't have been so rude then she wouldn't have been going through that at the moment. Another scream burst through the floor and the radio, making him wish it was him they were doing this to. Whatever it was. It must be really bad considering how much Reese was screaming. After all, she'd been through surgery while she was awake.

"It'll be all over soon, Reesey Cup, and then you'll be as good as new," a sickeningly sweet voice said. Hunter was going to vomit.

**Another scream. And another. And another.**

Hunter felt like _he_ would die if it went on any longer. Her screams sounded like they were in an intense pain. Hunter shifted his body weight, hoping it was a dream. How in the world did her father know how much this would affect him? Why hurt him mentally and not physically? Getting stabbed would've been less painful than listening to Reese scream over and over again and not be able to do anything about it. He was forced to sit there and do nothing.

**Scream. Scream. Scream. Scream. **

Until finally they stopped, and all the tension left Hunter's body, and it was replaced by rage. But that went away quickly when there was nothing he could lash out at. He felt weak. That was all. And he hated it.

So this was the chink in Reese's armor. She broke under the weight that this entire situation brought her. Just because this was the thing she feared most in the world, he could tell. Fear could make anyone give up, even Reese. And that's why it was dangerous, because she was the strongest person he knew.

And he hated not being with her when she was suffering in that basement.

* * *

A few hours later, Griff came in with some food and sat with his legs crossed in front of him. Hunter eyed him carefully, "Before I can eat anything you're going to have to untie my hands."

"Right," Griff said, and moved back to unlock the shackles that bound his hands. Hunter rubbed his wrists and moved to grab a piece of bread off of the tray. "I want to help you get out of here."

"What?" Hunter asked. The psychopath in training wanted to be helpful? This was news to him.

"What he did to Reese-it's bad. She needs medical attention, but he refuses to do anything. He says she'll heal by the power of God. I'm assuming she told you that her father is a very serious Christian, so she's a very serious atheist?" Griff asked.

"She never mentioned it, but it makes sense," Hunter said, trying to figure out ways he could escape just in case Griff was trying to set him up. "What did he do to her?"

Griff flinched, "He removed the tattoos on her back and neck. With a clothes iron. Burned her skin off while she was still in the dress he put her in. He dressed her up like a little girl, with pig tails. The guy's a lunatic. Completely missed the tattoo on her neck, though, thank God. But what happened was, when the skin melted, the dress burnt into it." It was Hunter's turn to flinch, no wonder she was screaming so much. It was hurting him to think about it. "It's awful. And it's starting to get infected. That's why I want to get you two out of here."

"So you'll help me, to save her?" Hunter asked, skeptical.

"Of course. But when you get her, you need to get out of here as fast as you can. I'm going to set the house on fire as a distraction so I can trap him in here," Griff said, referring to Mr. Lester.

"How are you going to get out?" Hunter asked.

"I'm not," Griff said, setting his jaw. Hunter didn't know why he protested so much about the plan, but he did. "Even if I hate what he did to her does not mean I did not have a hand in helping him. I deserve to die, it's all my fault she's back with him in the first place."

"Why did you do it?" Hunter asked, not exactly sure why he wanted to know.

"Because I love her, but I knew she would never love me. So I thought that if I took her father's offer, he could make her love me. But I know Reese wouldn't cooperate with that, she's too independent. And she loves you too much," Griff said. There was a certain amount of pain in his voice that Hunter knew Griff was not trying to deceive him.

"I trust you, Griff. I still don't like you, but I trust you," Hunter said, holding his hand out for Griff to shake it. They shook hands, but Hunter had another question, "What happened to her brother?"

"Boss got him first. After about a day of being locked up, he killed himself on a loose pipe just to escape," Griff said, looking at the floor.

"Oh," Hunter said quietly. "Does she know?"

"No," Griff said. "And if I don't get the both of you out of here you'll be dead too."

* * *

**A/N: So here's a look into my messed up mind. How was the journey? It might be a little while before we update again, I'm going to rewrite a few of the first couple of chapters to maybe help draw in more readers...? Thanks so much for reading and please give me a review on how you think this chapter is!**


	22. Chapter 21

**A/N: Next chapter! You get to visit the inner workings of my mind again! It's a very scenic place...**

* * *

Hunter's P.O.V.

Hunter sat in his makeshift cell, head against the wall, wondering about Reese. He knew she was in pain, but how badly had the infection in the burns gotten by this point?

_How long would it be before the infection would kill her?_

_ Had her monster of a father done anything to help her at all? _

He had told himself to stop multiple times, but he couldn't help it.

_Would they get out of there alive?_

_How would they get Reese to a hospital?_

_Where were they?_

He hit his head against the wall, trying to get the questions to disappear. They were making his mood go from morbid to suicidal. Not that he'd do that or anything, he wouldn't leave Reese here by herself, he just knew that this plan wasn't going to work, and all of them would be dead by morning. And yet he waited dutifully for the signal.

Griff had given him a wrench as a weapon, and it was his job to knock Reese's father out long enough so he and Reese could get out of the house. Once they were out, Griff would set the house on fire, leaving her father to burn like he should've years ago. Also possibly locking Griff in too.

As much as Hunter hated him, he still didn't want the poor guy to die. He was only eighteen and hadn't even gone to college yet. He had barely lived, and the only girl he'd ever loved was Reese. He'd barely even lived, and now he was going to die. And it was too soon.

But Hunter didn't object too much. After all, the boy did contribute to them getting there in the first place. Any opportunity to get Reese out of there Hunter was going to take, casualties or not. He couldn't risk her death so Griff could live. She meant everything to him, and Griff was just another face that he'd gotten to know after awhile. He knew it sounded selfish, and Hunter wouldn't say otherwise. It was how he was.

Hunter didn't know how long it was before Mr. Lester strode in, head held high. Hunter pretended to still be chained up. "I hope you learned your lesson, Gabriel," he said, referring to Hunter as his late son.

"Oh, I did. But I didn't like a minute of it," Hunter said, and held the wrench tighter in his hand.

"Is that so, well maybe I'll just have to teach you another lesson," he said and turned his back to Hunter turn the radio back on, that was his mistake. Hunter jumped up, his muscles protesting all the way, and hit him across the side of the head with the wrench. There was a loud _thump _as Mr. Lester's unconscious body hit the floor. Hunter wanted to hit him with it over and over again, but for now Hunter had to find Reese and get her out of there.

Griff was in the hallway, gripping a box of matches so tightly his knuckles were white. Hunter nodded at him, and that meant he would light several and throw them around the house. Hunter found the steps to the main floor, but had trouble finding the ones leading to the basement.

_two minutes and thirty seconds left._

When he finally found the steps he went as fast as he could down them and knew Reese was on the other side of the door at the end of the hallway. And as much as his muscles protested, he ran all the way there.

_two minutes left._

When the doorknob would budge, Hunter used the wrench to break it off. He shouldered the door open and immediately saw black hair illuminated by a single exposed light bulb in the middle of the room. Her head lifted slightly, and he caught a flash of green eyes before her head went back down. He didn't think she recognized him.

"Come to get the one on my leg now?" she asked. Her voice was scratchy and filled with pain. She had a bandage wrapped all the way around her torso and down one arm.

_one minute and thirty seconds left._

"No, Reese, it's me, Hunter," he said, coming over to untie her. She was tied to the chair she was sitting in, and blood had dried on the roped from where she'd tried to break free. He tried to be extra careful on her tattoo arm when he untied it, but he knew when she took in a sharp breath that he had unintentionally hurt her.

"Playing mind games now, are we?" she asked bitterly from the chair. "What are you going to do, Griff, stage an escape so I can get punished even more?" Hunter carefully took Reese's chin between his thumb and forefinger and lifted it up so she could see him. The hopelessness left her eyes immediately and that fire he knew all too well was back. "He told me he had killed you," she said, her voice small.

"It takes a whole lot more than this to kill me, Reese, but trust me, it was getting close," Hunter said, and Reese winced. "Now let's get out of here. We're kind of on a schedule."

_thirty seconds left._

Reese was quiet until Hunter tried to help her out of her chair. She fell over and landed on her back, immediately looking as if she wanted to cry right then and there. Hunter very carefully helped her get up and found her bandages were covered in blood from where the burns had pulled open again. "I can walk—it's just—I've been sitting for so long with my arms and legs tied up that I'm stiff, and my back injury isn't helping very much," Reese said with gritted teeth. She was near tears, and Hunter knew she must've been in serious pain.

"Here, wrap your arm around me and I'll do my best to help you walk, we just really need to get out of here first," Hunter said. Reese did as he instructed and they slowly but surely made their way up the steps.

_zero seconds left._

At the top of the stairs, Reese insisted on stopping, but after Hunter reminding her where exactly they were trying to escape from and the time limit, she sped up just a little bit. If they hadn't been in such a serious situation it almost would've been comical.

They got to the foyer before trouble came.

Hunter could smell the smoke from upstairs, so he knew Griff was already lighting the fires. But they would've expected Griff before they would've expected Mr. Lester himself blocking their exit. "And where do you think you're going, children?" he asked, sounding the part of a concerned father. Hunter wanted to bash his head in, and wished he had earlier. But he did feel just a little bit satisfied with himself when he saw an already purple bruise blooming across his right eye.

"Home," Reese said, almost imperceptivity. Hunter wondered how she be so strong and yet so weak at the same time, but answered his question with a very simple "because she's Reese" and moved on. That wasn't necessarily important in that moment.

"You don't have one," her father said, a certain delight in his eyes, "except for me and your brother here."

"What do you mean, 'I don't have one'?" Reese demanded, attempting to stand up taller.

"I killed your stepparents, your biological brother killed himself to escape me, and I killed your mother a long time ago, didn't I? And what about that lovely twin sister you had before she so tragically 'drowned,'" he laughed maliciously. "I've become excellent at covering up deaths for years. Your brother's body just disappeared. I dined nicely that night."

"You ate him?" Reese asked. Hunter blinked. He didn't know that Reese's dad was also a cannibal. Why hadn't she told him?

"It was a delicious five course meal, Reesey. And I think, that I might kill Hunter here and make that a six course meal. He's so much bigger than Gabe. Maybe you can eat too, hmm?" He asked. Reese looked like she wanted to retch. Hunter's grip tightened around the wrench. He'd like to see her father try to eat him.

"I don't think I'd taste that good, Mr. Lester. Honestly. Now if you'll excuse us, you're home is burning down so we'll just be off," Hunter said, walking backwards toward the exit.

"I don't think so," Mr. Lester said. "I w_ill _not be separated from my Reesey cup ever again." His face formed an ugly snarl and he lunged for Hunter. Hunter did the only thing he could think to do in that moment. It could've possibly been smoke inhalation or just simply instinct, but he swung the wrench as hard as he could. He heard a crunch, but he looked away at the last second. He slowly opened his eyes.

There was Mr. Lester, laying on the floor, head grotesquely caved in on one side. He still had that ugly snarl marring his face, or at least the part of it that was still there. Hunter dropped the wrench and looked anxiously toward the stairs. The fire was eating through the floor rapidly, and it looked as if it would collapse at any second.

"Reese, we need to go," Hunter said, looking over at the girl. She gingerly bent down and wrapped one hand around the wrench. "Reese?" She used as much strength as she could muster and swung the wrench, hitting her father's corpse in the head. Beating it until it was completely unrecognizable. "Recylia!" as if he was breaking her out of a trance, her head swiveled and she looked at him, tears freely rolling down her face.

"He's dead," Reese said in a voice that sounded broken. Hunter realized that her father was all the family Reese had left in the world, and he had killed him. It didn't matter that the guy was still a psychopath and abusive and a cannibal and all these other things, in Reese's mind he was still her father. That had to count for something. She was alone. An orphan.

"Reese, the floor is about to fall," Hunter said. Griff had drenched that entire floor with lighter fluid, hoping that it would cave in on Reese's dad before he realized what was going on. Mission accomplished. Sort of.

"I'm staying," Reese said, her voice just daring Hunter to contradict her. "I'm going to die anyway because of this infection. My family being dead is just another reason I should die in this house."

Hunter's head reeled. She was going to stay, in the burning building, just because her family was dead? Well he thought that that assumption was ridiculous. He was her family. Jeff, Sebastian, Kylie, Aya, and the rest of the Warblers were her family. He didn't care if she liked it or not, she still had things to lose. He picked her up as carefully as he could and carried her out the front door.

_Away from the model house of her childhood._

_Away from her father._

_Away from the person who had tormented her for years. _

_Away from the person who gave her nightmares._

And she protested all the way. Calling him names, demanding to be put down, and even said she'd hate him forever if he did not take her back inside that house so she could die with her father.

Hunter sat her down on a tree stump, a good 300 feet away from the house. "I'm your family now, Recylia. You're not going to get rid of me that easily," Hunter said. Reese stopped protesting and looked at him, eyes still filled with tears. "Why would you want to die like that anyway?"

"Because he wasn't always like that. He was a good father when I was little. He was in a car accident that gave him brain damage. That was the real monster," she said and whimpered. Her back was bleeding even more now and Hunter wished he could do something to help her. "And believe it or not, Hunter, I'm not as strong as I like to pretend to be. I'd rather go back there and die than have to live with nightmares and this terrible infection. You know how ugly skin grafts are, Hunter? Even you wouldn't want to look at me."

Hunter scoffed. That was ridiculous. He'd always think she was beautiful, no matter how many scars she had. "Stop being over dramatic. I'm going to call for an ambulance once I get reception and you are going to live," Hunter said. Griff had given him a cell phone and the address so he could call for an ambulance. "Besides, scars are what make us who we are. Yours are just more visible than most."

Reese would've replied, but she had managed to fall asleep with her back against a tree that had grown right next to the stump. Hunter knew it was probably painful, but he didn't want to wake her up so she'd actually have to feel it.

Hunter dialed the number and waited for someone to answer.

_911, what's your emergency?_

Where to begin?

* * *

**A/N: The contest is still running! We've actually started a different thing that's just going to be drabbles about these characters. Just taking ship requests for that one though, we decide what happens. Fluff galore! ~Star and Pusheen**


	23. Chapter 22

**A/N: Here's the next chapter! *tosses cyber twinkies to the crowd, or small (very small) mob***

* * *

Hunter wasn't happy that they wouldn't let him see Reese. They had only had to keep him at the hospital one night for observation, but Reese's case was a bit more severe. They told him that she would be fine and her skin would eventually grow back without the aid of skin grafts, to Reese's immense relief. It would just take awhile. They had bandaged a cut on her face and had to check her brain for damage where she had been hit with the wrench, and that turned out perfectly fine.

They had just had to put Hunter's arm back into socket from where he had swung that wrench.

He didn't even feel it dislocate. Apparently, he'd used all his strength to do it, and somehow that had pulled his arm out of socket. He didn't even flinch when they put it back in place, afraid that it would offend Reese even though she wasn't there. He knew she had gone through so much more pain in her lifetime and he felt he owed it to her to hold his in.

His parents didn't want to keep him at home because they couldn't leave from work, and they didn't want to leave him around his little sister Seraphine. He had admitted to killing her father in self defense, but he killed him nonetheless, and they didn't want a killer around their daughter. Even if said killer was their son.

Hunter understood. He knew his parents loved him and wanted what was best for him and Seraphine. He knew they'd stick him back in therapy, but it wouldn't last for a month. It was almost exactly like the time Zach had died.

They ended up letting him stay at the dorm in his friends' care. That was probably the second-most place he wanted to stay, right after the hospital with Reese. Family only, they said. Hunter wanted to yell and scream at them that she didn't have any family and leaving her alone wasn't going to help her get better. But in order to be able to visit her when she wasn't in ICU anymore, he restrained himself.

At school, he collected her work for her and delivered it to the nurses, who said they would give it to her when they thought that she could handle it. He just brought it so that they might've let him in. But it didn't happen.

* * *

**Reese's P.O.V.**

She layed in that dreadful hospital bed for days before they allowed anyone to see her. And even then it wasn't anyone she particularly wanted to see. Sebastian's dad, a therapist, a few social workers, and her new doctor. She smiled and laughed, and acted completely normal, even though her back was killing her and she wanted to cry all the time. She used to hate feeling pitiful, and now it was all she knew.

When they wanted her to start walking around the hospital, she practically jumped at the chance. They had a nurse walk with her at first, but then she got to where she didn't need any assistance anymore. Reese was hoping that maybe it was one of the days when Hunter brought her homework, so she could run into him; but instead of seeking him out, she found herself at an empty nurses' station, checking out the roster.

She didn't see anyone she knew until, wait—Clarice? Clarice Lester. But her mom was dead. It was impossible and yet, there it was. But the question was, was it really her? There was a great possibility that it could be just someone else named Clarice Lester… but, she thought that it wouldn't hurt to check it out.

She looked at the room number again. 457. She took a deep breath, and decided that it wouldn't hurt to check. Her feet moved in the direction of room 457. She wasn't even aware she was moving really, she was just trying hard to breathe. The chance that it could just be another Clarice Lester in Lima far outnumbered the chance that it was her dead mother. She almost turned around, glancing behind her at the nurse's station, but her feet just kept moving.

At the door, she raised her hand to knock, but a tall man opened it before she could enter. "You're not supposed to be here," he said. He had a deep voice and towered over her. She didn't even flinch. There was no way that she was going to stand there letting this guy treat her like his inferior.

But before she could say anything to him in response, a weak voice from inside the room called, "Let her in, Laurence." Reese smiled smugly and made her way into the room. On the bed, a small lady, probably anywhere from late 40's early 50's, was hooked up to about a thousand machines. Reese looked at her IV stand and immediately was thankful she wasn't hooked up like that anymore. Reese, however, didn't recognize her until she gave her a small smile.

"Mum?" Reese asked in a small voice. Her mother gave her a slight nod and a smile. "But what happened to you?"

"Well, Little Warbler, my organs are slowly shutting themselves down. One by one. Soon they'll have to put me on life support. It's kind of funny isn't it? We get united again and I get taken away from you days after?" her mother asked.

Reese's head had officially shut down by that point. She only registered a few things like this was her mom, her mom was dying, her mom was going to be taken away from her again. She felt tearsfalling down her cheeks and immediately brought her hand up to wipe them away. "But I just found out you were here," Reese said, still not quite understanding why the universe hated her so much.

"It's my fault," she said. "I didn't want you to know I was here. I know about your father and the rest of your family, and I knew it would be extremely difficult for you to cope with losing another family member; but I guess not even the doctors can stop you from looking at a hospital's roster." Reese flinched when she said _your _family and not _our _family. But then again, she hadn't seen any of them in years. Did she even care like she used to?

"Why are you in Ohio anyway?" Reese asked, bitterly. She knew she wasn't being fair, but she didn't really feel like being fair.

"I was making sure you were okay. I've been keeping tabs on your brother and father, and I saw that he had bought a plane ticket to the states. I followed him. I found out that he had been stalking you through Griff, and was about to confront him about it, but you disappeared. I was trying to help the police figure out where you were when you disappeared, but your nice friend—what was her name? Aya!—told me what happened my worst fears were confirmed, and I was going to send Laurence after you, but then they told me they had checked you into the hospital," her mum said. Reese was a little surprised that she had spoken to Aya, but didn't doubt that the girl got a little suspicious when she saw another Lester on the roster. "Come sit with me." She patted the bed next to her.

Reese slowly made her way over to the bed and carefully sat down. With the frail state her mum was in and her back being burnt to a crisp, it was probably one of the best ideas she'd ever had. "I think, that we may have some catching up to do," her mum said, and then gave her a grin, "Aya told me you got a boyfriend named Hunter…"

Reese was going to hit Aya once she wasn't feeling like a depressed, roasted chicken and more like the demented squirrel she usually was. Reese told her mom everything ever since she had moved to the states, but didn't go any further back. They both knew that those years were hard on Reese.

* * *

Hunter's P.O.V.

After a week of being as annoying as he possibly could, they let Hunter into Reese's room. Only she wasn't there. A nurse told him that she was walking around as her doctor had instructed, and that she'd be back soon.

Hunter mumbled a thank you and went to go sit in a chair next to the bed. He didn't plan on going to sleep, but it happened. And when that happened, he had nightmares.

He'd been putting off sleep as much as he could since the incident. He' d made a mistake his first night at the hospital and had fallen asleep. He was plagued by nightmares of Reese screaming playing over and over in his head, ones where he was still in the house, ones where Reese had escaped from him and ran back into the house.

They all resulted in kicking and thrashing. He'd been awake for at least thirty eight hours straight. His body had been screaming that he needed a nap, but he refused to listen, afraid of what dreams it would bring him. Apparently, his body didn't appreciate that and got it's revenge.

When he woke up, he was drenched in sweat and there was a small hand on his shoulder. He rubbed his eyes and looked up to see Reese, who was hooked up to an IV tube. "You okay?" Reese asked him. She had a little crease between her eyebrows and Hunter put his hand over the one she had on his shoulder.

"I have a feeling I should be asking you that, but it's pretty clear to me you're not, so I'm not going to," Hunter said.

Reese looked relieved. "That's all I ever hear, now. 'Are you okay, Recylia? How are you feeling, Recylia? Honestly, I feel like crap, inside and out," she said, sitting down on the edge of her hospital bed. "And now that my mum is here…" she trailed off.

"You're mom is here? How?" Hunter asked.

Reese looked at him, eyes just radiating pain, "I don't really want to talk about it, right now. She'll be gone soon anyway." She looked away. Hunter wasn't sure exactly what she meant by "away" but the way her voice cracked he thought she might've meant death. "Can you do me a favor though?" she asked.

"Anything," Hunter said. She was probably going to go ask him to go get some clothes for her or something, but was surprised when she just asked him to hold her. Without asking any questions, he walked over and sat down next to her. She pulled him into a tight hug and he gave her a very loose one, still thinking about her back.

"You know how you said back at the house that you were my family now?" Reese asked, and continued when Hunter nodded, "That's fine with me as long as you don't die too."

Hunter's heart, which was probably already duct taped together, broke in two once again, and his voice cracked when he said "I promise" in reply. That apparently satisfied Reese and she leaned her head on his shoulder. In minutes, she was asleep.

* * *

The next morning, Hunter awoke with Reese srill leaning on his shoulder, but one thing was missing. His nightmares. He looked over at Reese and saw that she was sleeping peacefully as well. Somehow, the nightmares stop for both of them when they're together, which wasn't odd considering, but somehow he still found it a bit peculiar.

Right as he thought that, Reese's brow furrowed and her fists clenched in her sleep. She started clawing at her back, blood blooming through the cotton on her hospital gown. Hunter pulled her arms away and tried to coax her into waking up. Hunter tried to get a better look at her back, but that would've involved letting go of her arms, and he couldn't risk that until she was awake.

Her eyes fluttered open and she looked at her restrained hands fearfully. Then she saw Hunter and the adrenaline faded. But that also meant the pain kicked in. She winced, trying to keep herself from alerting the nurses. "Let me go get a nurse to—"

"No, Hunter. They've been having someone from a mental institution come evaluate me to see if I could have some sort of mental illness. I can't go there. This will put them over the edge and me in the loony bin. I can take care of it," she said through her teeth.

"At least let _me_ help you," Hunter said carefully.

"You do realize this involves me being naked right?" Reese asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What?" Hunter asked. He had no idea. Did she think that he knew and he was just saying that because… His face went a deep , deep shade of red to his face. Reese cracked a small smile, but it went away as fast as it came.

"I'll get a towel, relax," Reese said, and disappeared into the small adjoining hospital bathroom. "I'll tell you when it's safe to come in."

Hunter nearly rolled his eyes. Nearly. In a few minutes she gave the signal and handed him a small wash rag. She told him to clean the blood off of her back. She had a towel wrapped around her waist, and was holding one to her chest. Hunter looked at the mess of blood and burnt skin that was Reese's back and the base of her neck.

"What? Do you need to throw up? Toilet's right there," she gestured to the toilet.

Hunter kissed her cheek in response and started carefully wiping up the blood and seared flesh. Once he was done, she handed him some gauze and some tape off of the counter. He taped her back, she taped the front. They made a pretty good team. Hunter was just surprised at how awkward the situation wasn't, and how awkward it should've been. They'd gotten a whole lot closer by simply being separated for awhile. Of course, then again, Reese thought that Hunter was dead, and Hunter heard Reese's screams 24/7. It was probably a more prominent contributing factor.

Reese pulled the hospital gown on and dropped the towels. She bent down to pick them up. Hunter stopped her before she could, however, and did it for her. He really didn't want the wounds to break open again. "You want to go with me to see my mum?" Reese asked.

Hunter replied, "No, Reese. I shouldn't you two only have a limited time together and—" but he was cut off by Reese.

"That's bull. I need you to come with me," Reese said. "And I think it's high time for you to finally meet my other parent." She grabbed his hand and dragged him away. Hunter unconsciously grabbed the IV cart before she got too far away.

Hunter found himself watching the way Reese walked. She always had more weight on her right leg. It wasn't a limp, not exactly. It was just the way she held herself now that affected it. And the way her back was now affected the way she held herself, somehow. A doctor could give him a better explanation of it, but frankly he just used it to keep his mind of the big picture. The big picture being the fact as to whether or not Reese still loved him.

He knew it probably seemed ridiculous, but after all, he did keep her from running back into the house. If she'd done that, she would've been spared the pain of knowing her mother was alive but was probably going to lose her any day now. If he'd have let her run back into that house then she would've been spared the pain of her burns. If he'd have let her run back into that house—_No, stop. If you'd have let Reese run, you'd have run with her. Imagine what that would out your family through. Imagine what that would've put your friends through, not just losing one friend, but two, _he thought to himself. He guessed it didn't matter if she hated him, as long as she was still alive. He might've been dreaming, but the world was a slightly better place with her in it.

"I know what you're thinking, Hunter. I can tell just by the look on your face. And all I have to say about that is thank you for saving me," she said, looking over her shoulder as much as she could manage before her burn there started hurting again. "I don't want to die. Not yet."

"Well I wouldn't let you anyway," Hunter said, adjusting the long IV tube. It was starting to tangle.

"Well, here it is," Reese said, dropping his hand and reaching for the IV stand. Hunter relinquished it and opened the door for her after knocking. "Mum?"

"Little Warbler," she said to Reese, then her gaze fell on Hunter. He felt as if a million pounds' pressure had just fallen on his shoulders. He had no idea if she'd approve of him. After what seemed like years (but was probably only a few awkward seconds) she smiled brightly at him, "So you're the Dalton boy Reese has been telling me about." The pressure didn't disappear.

"He has a name," Reese said under her breath. Hunter glanced at her and back to her mom.

He took a step forward, "Ms. Lester, my name is Hunter Clarington. It is a privilege to meet you, ma'am." Hunter thought he heard Reese say something that sounded like "rich people" and a scoff, but he wasn't so sure.

"I know," she said. She was so much like Reese it was startling. They looked nothing alike. "She told me everything about you. She really likes you." Reese went red, which rarely happened. "And I hope you take care of my little girl for me once I'm gone."

It was Hunter's turn to blush, but before he could say anything, Reese interrupted, "We both know he will, mum. Can you just stop with the whole intimidating mum thing. It's scaring _me_." Reese was trying to be normal, but it was only a half-hearted attempt. She was hurting, it was hard to act normal then. But nevertheless, the invisible pressure weighing him down disappeared. He felt like he should've been thankful.

* * *

They stayed in her mom's hospital room for about an hour, avoiding the topic of the house and Reese's dad. And most definitely Griffin. Reese knew he was dead, but she didn't want to talk about it considering he was part of the body count she considered to be her fault. Hunter walked her out of her mom's hospital room and back to hers. "Stay?" she asked. Hunter nodded, helping her lie down. He started to go over and sleep in the recliner, but she stopped him and scooted over. He knew exactly what she meant and laid down beside her, wrapping his arms loosely around her waist.

"Don't you get into trouble for this?" Hunter asked her.

"I don't care," Reese said, and shut her eyes.

* * *

**A/N: So... how was it? I know what you all were thinking when Hunter offered to help Reese with her back, but NO. Make up your own lemons. So, review?r**


	24. Chapter 23

**A/N: GUESS WHO'S KILLING SPREE IS ABOUT TO END?! Mine. Yeah, anyway, check out The Dalton Girl Drabbles (there's a Sebylie posted) which contain no spoilers and most of them are not canon.**

* * *

Hunter jerked awake. He looked over Reese's shoulder and saw that it was still dark outside, and one glance at the clock on the wall told him it was three in the morning. Hunter carefully slid out of Reese's grasp and got up. He knew he wouldn't go back to sleep, and he didn't want to accidentally wake Reese up. He kissed her forehead and went to go see if her mom was awake.

The fact was, Hunter enjoyed talking to Reese's mom. He wished that he'd met her under different circumstances because she was just... Awesome. There was really no other words to describe her. It wasn't that she was necessarily polite to him, but when she told stories about Reese as a little kid, he could almost picture it.

Even if he'd only known her for a couple of days, he knew he'd miss her when she died.

He softly knocked on the door and waited for the weak, "Come in." It happened, although it was different this time. It seemed as if somehow she had gotten weaker since the last time he saw her.

"Ms. Lester?" Hunter asked. They had hooked her up to a few more machines, but she wasn't on life support. Yet. The TV was on mute and she looked like she was trying desperately to get to sleep.

"Hunter, I need you to tell me something," she asked.

"What?" he asked. It was unusual that she didn't make her customary jab at him when he had walked in.

"Do you love my daughter?" She asked. Hunter nodded. "I don't have much time left, I need you to promise me you'll take care of her. Treat her right."

"I promise," Hunter said.

She smiled—a real smile—and then her eyes rolled back into her head. Hunter, momentarily stunned, stood still for a second before his mind comprehended what was happening. Once his brain made that breakthrough, he hit the "nurse" button on the wall.

By then, all the machines they had Ms. Lester hooked up to we're beeping. Hunter hoped Reese slept through all the commotion. She didn't need to witness this first hand. A nurse rushed in with another machine and shooed him away. Hunter went back to Reese's hospital room and sat down in the arm chair.

* * *

Hunter woke up that morning before Reese did, and went to go see what happened to her mom last night. He went to the room, and found it empty. No Mrs. Lester. No big machines. Nothing.

Hunter stopped a nurse that was walking by and asked her where she went. They told him she was moved to the room across the hall. She also told him that she was on life support and once Reese woke up she'd have to decide when they should turn it off.

Hunter slumped over a little bit. He didn't expect her to leave Reese so soon. Especially when she didn't get to say goodbye. But it wasn't like she had a choice. Her organs were dying one by one, and that wasn't exactly something a person could control.

Hunter sat down in the hallway beside Reese's mom's new room. It was going to be a really long day.

* * *

Reese groggily opened one eye and peeked at the clock. It was around nine, and she wanted to shut her eyes again and go back to sleep, but once she realized that Hunter was missing she nearly shot straight up. You know, if her back wasn't seared off.

She carefully placed her legs to where they were hanging off the side of the bed and gingerly stood up. She was getting better at doing mundane things again. Her back had made it to where she was in so much pain she could hardly breathe, it was only for a short time, though.

She walked slowly but steadily toward her mum's room, careful to avoid the nurses. She walked into the hallway and immediately saw Hunter sitting guard outside the opposing room's door. Reese sensed something was wrong and ran into her mum's room, only to find it empty.

"Reese?" Hunter asked. She turned around to look at him hunched on the floor. "I'm so sorry."

A strong feeling of dread took hold of her heart as she walked ont of the empty hospital room. "Is she dead?" Reese asked tightly.

"Well—" Hunter began slowly, trying to avoid the delicate subject. Reese knew he didn't want to tell her, he had probably hoped a doctor had gotten ahold of her first.

"Is. She. Dead?" Reese asked from in between her teeth.

"Not exactly," Hunter said, carefully treading. "She's on life support. They can't resuscitate her."

That was so much worse. Reese knew her mom would hate them keeping her body alive and yet everything that made her mom her would be gone. Reese didn't want to cry, not for Hunter's sake, so she gradually rebuilt the dam that would break again when she went into that dreadful hospital room Hunter was so adamantly guarding.

"Go get a doctor for me, okay Hunter. Tell him to give me a few minutes—alone—with her and then tell them once I go back to my room they can turn that stupid machine off," Reese said. She didn't give him time to say no, and entered the room.

Her mom was deadly pale and laid out on the bed like a rag doll. Her almost-red hair was splayed across the pillow, and you could barely see her chest moving up and down. Reese probably would've thought she was sleeping if she didn't know any better. But, unfortunately, she did know better.

"Why didn't you say goodbye to me?" Reese asked in a small voice. Now she'd never get to hear her mom call her her "little Warbler" ever again. She'd never get her mom's pancakes anymore. She'd never get a hug from her again. The dam had broken. Tears started flowing freely down her face, her throat clenching so tight she was nearly choking.

Reese didn't see how this was fair. She'd always been told that life wasn't fair, but she didn't think that someone could be abused by their father, get into a car wreck, and have everyone in their family die in one lifetime. Especially to one person.

_So is this how it's always going to be, dad?_ she thought. _I guess you promised to make my life a living hell, and you're still doing it from the grave. You should really get paid overtime._

Reese collapsed against the wall, her back screaming in protest. She felt the warm blood seep through her clothes. She also knew she didn't care. That was the third time she'd ripped the wound open. _Third times the charm, right?_ she thought bitterly to herself.

She let out a loud sob and buried her head in her knees. It was so much worse losing her mom this second time, and she knew she was going to go. She felt as if she'd welcome death with open arms if it hadn't been for Hunter.

He had busted in right when she had collapsed on the ground. She felt strong arms go around her, just like that day she had told Hunter about her awful childhood. "Shh, Reese, it'll be alright," Hunter said soothingly. "I know it hurts now, but this will all be fine after awhile."

Reese stayed silent, other than a few sniffles here and there. Once Hunter was sure she was alright, he inspected her back, "I'll help you fix this, are you sure you want me to still go get a doctor to turn the machine off?"

Reese rubbed her eyes, hiccuped, and then said, "Yeah. She wouldn't want this."

"Alright, Reese. I'll be back, five minutes. Do you think you can hold out that long?" he asked. She nodded, and he left with a last kiss on her forehead.

"Or at least, I think I can," she said softly, and put her chin on her knees.

She just sat there staring at her mum's body, waiting for Hunter and the doctor. She knew this would never be alright. Her brother's death would never be alright. Griff's betrayal would never be alright. Nothing anyone had ever done to wrong her would ever be alright. The only thing that could happen to those figurative wounds, was to wait until they got patched up and left their mark. They'd always be there, no matter what, but they'd never be alright.

* * *

**A/N: I don't even want to know what you thought about this one. Although I know those of you who actually like this story will want to murder me :) Hola!**


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